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Late LSU rally boosts Tigers past pesky Wofford

LSU forward KJ Williams scored 15 points in the Tigers' 78-75 win over Wofford in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday afternoon.
LSU forward KJ Williams scored 15 points in the Tigers' 78-75 win over Wofford in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of LSU Athletics)

It wasn’t exactly a relaxing walk in the park for LSU men’s basketball team Sunday afternoon in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Then again, Tigers’ first-year head coach Matt McMahon knew it wouldn’t be.

LSU rallied from a 5-point deficit in the game’s final 4½ minutes, holding on to beat Wofford 78-75 when the Terriers failed on a trio of game-tying 3-pointers in the final 12 seconds.

The Tigers (6-1) rebounded from 61-59 loss to Kansas State in the Cayman Island finals, but it wasn’t easy against a mid-major opponent from the Southern Conference which has been a five-time NCAA tournament participant and has chopped down some major programs down to size.

“I told our players in the two-day prep leading up to the game that in last five seasons they (Wofford) beat North Carolina twice, Georgia, Georgia Tech South Carolina and Seton Hall," McMahon said. "That's a program that's been beaten Power Five schools for many years.”

It looked like Wofford (4-3) was about notch another win in its gunbelt over a Power 5 team until the Tigers began playing lock down defense after trailing 71-66 with 4:26 left to play.

From that point all the way to the game-ending buzzer, LSU was 4 of 5 from the field hitting its last four shots while Wofford missed 7 of its final 8 shots including six straight to close the game.

LSU guard Adam Miller scored a career-high 26 points, boosted by 9-of-13 3-point accuracy. His last made 3-pointer for a 77-73 lead with 41 seconds came more than a minute after he missed two free throws.

“I just continue to tell myself that pros don't miss, saying the next shot can go in,” Miller said of his unshaken confidence. “I don't really care too much about the last shot. I just found a way to stay aggressive. That's just my mindset.”

There were 8 lead changes and 19 ties in a game that had the feel of an NCAA tournament first-round game. LSU twice established 7-point leads that Wofford erased with 8-0 rallies.

Wofford’s starters, led by freshman guard Jackson Paveletzke’s 19 points, outscored LSU’s starters 59-54. But what saved the Tigers was their 24-16 advantage in bench points, keyed by guard Trae Hannibal’s 12 points.

In a four-minute stretch in the game’s final 6:43, Hannibal scored 10 straight points to keep LSU afloat and in position to steal the win in the end.

“Coming off the bench, my job is bring energy and just contribute to the team in any way I can,” Hannibal said. “I think that's what I did pretty well down the stretch, just staying consistent.”

Wofford head coach Jay McAuley felt his team played almost well enough to win. LSU barely outshot his team from field (52.8 percent to 48.3 percent) and outrebounded the Tigers 30-26.

“We got to finish the job, and that’s our message,” McAuley said. “There’s a lot of good to take away from this. I’m really proud of our guys and how hard they played. Just got to play a little bit smarter.”

LSU doesn’t play again untll Friday when the Tigers host UT-Arlington at 7 p.m. McMahon and his players are happy to get a breather after playing their first seven games of the season in 19 days.

“We've gotten a lot better,” McMahon said. “We were below average or first two games. We made a lot of progress over the next four. We did regress in some areas today.”

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