The Tigers looked like they were heading for a blowout loss in the first half against Wake Forest at Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta. Coach Matt McMahon’s team trailed by as much as 20 in the opening period, but an immaculate second-half comeback flipped the script.
In a tie game in the final seconds, point guard [autotag]Justice Hill[/autotag] made a fantastic move to get to the basket and hit what proved to be the game-winning bucket as the Tigers picked up a marquee non-conference win with a 72-70 victory over the Demon Deacons.
Despite giving up a better than 50% shooting day from Wake, which was led by Florida transfer Tyree Appleby’s 26 points on an 11 of 13 shooting day. But he was overshadowed by LSU’s [autotag]KJ Williams[/autotag], who had his best performance of the year, scoring 35 points with 10 rebounds.
[autotag]Cam Hayes[/autotag] scored 13 points, and [autotag]Derek Fountain[/autotag] had 11 as the team shot 48.4% in the second half.
Despite allowing a good shooting day, the Tigers’ defense took advantage of 15 turnovers to score 21 points, and that proved to make the difference in this one.
The win gives LSU its best NET victory of the season heading into the last few games of the non-conference slate. Next up is North Carolina Central on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT.
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