Tigers get close, can't finish

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 12, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:25 a.m.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — LSU would never go away Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers could never come all the way back either.

LSU never led in a 65-59 loss to Alabama at Coleman Coliseum. Instead, the Tigers would consistently make runs at the Crimson Tide, only to be denied just as they pulled within striking distance.

In that sense, the game flowed much like the 72-61 loss to Texas A&M Dec. 20, another game where LSU trailed most of the game, but stayed within striking distance.

“It’s a little tough,” LSU coach Trent Johnson said of the Alabama game. “At crucial points of the second half they had some guys who made some plays. The ball bounced their way a couple of times and a couple of loose balls they got to.”

A 6-0 run by Alabama pushed the Tide to a 16-9 lead at the 10:36 mark of the first half, putting the Crimson Tide solidly in control of the game. But LSU consistently made runs, pulling within a basket of the Tide seven times, six times in the second half.

But Alabama answered with points of its own six of the seven possessions after LSU finished a possession within a basket.

“Bottom line,” said Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, “is we dug down and found a way to win.”

And found ways to keep the lead.

The one time Alabama allowed LSU possession of the ball with a chance at erasing the Alabama lead, Senario Hillman, who scored a career-high 24 points, came up with a steal on LSU’s Marcus Thornton for a dunk and a 58-54 Alabama lead with 2:54 left.

It was part of a stretch of nine straight Alabama points for Hillman, who hit 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the last minute to prevent the Tigers from having another chance to pull within a possession.

“I thought Senario Hillman took the game over in the second half and did so many things well,” Gottfried said.

But Hillman was one of several Crimson Tide players to answer LSU challenges.