LSU 54 - 57 Georgia
Final
  for this game

Stukes' 3-pointer lifts Georgia past LSU

Jan 29, 2007 - 2:06 AM ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- A stagnant offense has kept Louisiana State mired in a slump.

Levi Stukes buried a 3-pointer with six-tenths of a second to go as Georgia sent No. 22 LSU to its third straight loss with a 57-54 Southeastern Conference victory.

It was the fourth consecutive game for the Bulldogs that has been decided on the last possession or in overtime.

"You can check our record and see that I am at ease when the game is that close," Georgia coach Dennis Felton. "It's like I have a lucky rabbit's foot. For some reason when it's that close, we have seemed to have come out on top."

Once again, it was the Tigers' inability to score that spelled defeat and will likely knocked the team out of the national rankings.

LSU (13-7, 2-4 SEC West) has failed to top 54 points in its three-game slide and has not scored more than 66 in its last eight games.

Still, the Tigers have allowed an average of 59 points per game in the last eight games and had a strong defensive effort again with 12 steals while limiting the Bulldogs to 34.5 percent shooting (20-of-58).

Despite the offensive ineptitude, the Tigers seemed poised to snap the losing streak after an 8-0 run forged a 49-43 lead with 8:36 to play, but they managed just five points in the final 8 1/2 minutes.

Georgia responded with back-to-back 3-pointers by Mike Mercer and Billy Humphrey to knot it at 49-49.

LSU's Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Stukes traded 3-pointers, and after the Tigers went ahead again, Georgia deadlocked it at 54-54 on a thunderous follow dunk by Mercer.

The Tigers worked the ball inside to Davis on their final possession, but the burly junior center missed a spinning lefthanded shot in the lane with 33 seconds left, setting up Georgia's last shot.

Point guard Sundiata Gaines dribbled to the free-throw line - drawing two defenders - and passed to a wide-open Stukes on the left wing and he nailed it to give the Bulldogs (13-6, 5-2 East) their second straight win over a ranked opponent.

Stukes finished with 16 points and Takais Brown added 15 and 10 rebounds for Georgia, which shot just 35 percent (20-of-57) but did hit 11-of-25 from the arc.

Davis had 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers, whose loss dropped teams from the SEC West to 1-18 in league road games.






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