Tigers rally for fourth straight win

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Mar 6, 2008 - Page: 1C

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Twenty-five days of progress has reaped a lot of rewards for the LSU men’s basketball team.

On Wednesday, the Tigers had to reach down deep to summon all those different elements of success they have become acquainted with since their season took an unexpected detour on Feb. 8.

The checklist came in handy Wednesday: 1. How to play in close games. 2. How to survive and come from behind against a team playing well. 3. How to know who to get the ball to with the game on the line.

And most importantly: 4. How to win.

That’s a skill that eluded LSU for most of the first three months of the season. Now it’s a talent the Tigers have mastered four times in a row after surging past Alabama 80-74 Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU nabbed its fourth consecutive victory and fifth in seven games with a near-perfect second half, and did so against a desperate Crimson Tide team that played well most of the night.

“I think we did so many things well and executed as efficiently as we would’ve liked to,” Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. “I feel bad for our players because I think they played their absolute hearts out, and I’m proud of their effort.”

That effort came up empty because the resurgent Tigers fed their superstars in crunch time and they responded — Anthony Randolph with a career-high 29 points and Marcus Thornton with 27, including the game-winning 3-point dagger with 36.4 seconds left in the game.

LSU (13-16, 6-9 Southeastern Conference) connected on five of its last seven field goals and played suffocating defense to overcome a second-half deficit that hovered around 5-to-7 points for half of the second period.

The total package was a reflection of how well the Tigers have come together and executed since Feb. 8 when former coach John Brady was fired.

“That was fantastic,” said interim LSU coach Butch Pierre, now 5-3. “The kids played extremely well and executed down the stretch.”

For the Tigers, fading when the game is up for grabs no longer seems to be an option. Unable to hold on to big leads early in the season, now LSU is unflappable when it gets down and seemingly out.

That appeared to be the case Wednesday when the Tide (15-15, 4-11) sliced and diced the Tigers defense in the first half on the way to a 44-37 lead.