Thornton, Mitchell pace LSU victory

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 4, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:05

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Southeastern Louisiana couldn’t slow down LSU’s top two scorers Saturday. On the other end, Garrett Temple put the clamps on the Lions’ big gun.

The Tigers’ Marcus Thornton and Tasmin Mitchell combined for 57 points, while Temple shadowed Kevyn Green, SLU’s 19.9 points-per-game-scorer, holding him to a season-low six points in a 90-61 LSU win at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Thornton scored a season-high 33 points on 11-for-17 shooting for the Tigers (12-1), who won their fourth straight heading into their first true road game of the season Tuesday at Utah. Mitchell added 24 points and seven rebounds to follow his career-high 25-point game against Louisiana-Lafayette on New Year’s Eve.

But the story may have been the job Temple did on Green, who didn’t get off his first shot attempt until the 3:26 mark of the first half — and that was against backup Delwan Graham. Green was not a factor as the Tigers pulled away in the second half.

“I thought we were pretty good in all phases,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “Offensively, we got some quick shots early that were good shots and they didn’t go down for us, but we kept our poise. Defensively, we really defended. The guys were disappointed with our performance and execution against (Louisiana-) Lafayette, so there was a concentrated effort.

“And Garrett was exceptional.”

LSU, which allowed ULL 48 second-half points in an 81-79 win, reversed that one-game trend Saturday. The Tigers held SLU to 10-for-27 second-half shooting as the Tigers pulled away.

“In the second half, we wanted to put them away,” said Temple. “We wanted to step on their neck. And that’s pretty much what we did.”
LSU, overall, played a solid game outside of a mediocre night at the free-throw line. The Tigers, who outscored SLU 51-30 after halftime, shot 47 percent from the floor and committed just six turnovers against a Lions team that played competitive games earlier this season at Arkansas (losing in overtime), Auburn and Minnesota.

“When they smelled blood in the water, they did their job,” said SLU coach Jim Yarbrough.

Center Patrick Sullivan scored 17 points to lead the Lions, who were within 44-38 on a slam by Warrell Span — who had 12 points and nine rebounds —with 16:34 left before LSU shifted gears.

The Lions could not find a rhythm with Green, who started his college career as a Trent Johnson recruit at Nevada and whose brother played at Nevada, getting shut down.

“I knew coming in, he was their leading scorer,” said Temple. “I had a lot of help. I just tried to stay with him and take away his jump shot and make him drive.”

While Green struggled, LSU’s dynamic scoring duo got off early and often. Mitchell shot on five of LSU’s fist six possessions en route to a 9-for-16 night from the floor. On one of his misses, Thornton was there to put it back in on one of his four offensive rebounds.