LSU holds off Texas A&M after shaky second half

The LSU Tigers appeared to be well on their way to a blowout win over the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station on Tuesday night before

The LSU Tigers appeared to be well on their way to a blowout win over the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station on Tuesday night before escaping with a 78-66 victory.

The Tigers led 35-18 with around six minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Aggies slowly scrapped their way back to go into halftime down just 41-36.

In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Texas A&M was red-hot from 3-point range, even taking the lead by as many as six points. After a timeout, LSU returned to the court and forced A&M’s guards to drive to the basket instead of taking wide-open 3s.

That strategy worked. As LSU’s defense tightened up, the offense picked back up, and the Tigers ripped off an 18-0 run late in the second half to come away with a much-needed win.

When Texas A&M led 63-57 with around 10 minutes left, the Tigers would score 21 of the game’s final 24 points, including that 18-0 run to survive and improve to 11-4 and 6-3 in SEC play.

Freshman guard Cam Thomas was outstanding once again, leading the Tigers with 28 points. Junior guard Javonte Smart scored 19 points and dished out nine assists.

LSU forwards Trendon Watford and Darius Days combined to score 24 points and pull down 14 rebounds.

LSU gets a break from SEC action on Saturday when it faces Texas Tech in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.