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Turner helps LSU hand Marquette first loss of season

Dec 20, 2011 - 5:53 AM Baton Rouge, LA (Sports Network) - Ralston Turner paced LSU with 22 points as the Tigers handed No. 10 Marquette its first loss of the season, 67-59, at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Justin Hamilton added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Storm Warren contributed 10 points and six rebounds off the bench in LSU's (8-3) fifth straight win.

"It's a good win for us. We beat a good basketball team," LSU head coach Trent Johnson said. "The bottom line for us is to go out and play like we are capable of playing, take care of the ball and just have some fun. For the most part that is what we did."

Jae Crowder dropped in 22 points with nine boards and Darius Johnson-Odom scored 16 for the Golden Eagles (10-1).

Marquette opened the game with 13 straight points to take the early lead, capped by Johnson-Odom's three-pointer after a pair of treys by Crowder.

But LSU responded by scoring 15 of the next 18 points to make it a 16-15 game near the midpoint of the first half.

The Tigers then took their first lead of the game, 21-20, on Warren's layup to cap a brief six-point swing and held on to take a 26-23 lead into the break.

"As good as we were in the first four minutes of the first half, we were just as bad in the last 15 minutes," said Marquette head coach Buzz Williams. "We started great and I thought we landed the first blow in the fight, but from that point forward they kept jabbing."

Anthony Hickey connected on a three early in the second half to stretch the Tigers' lead to six, but Johnson-Odom sparked an 8-0 run by the Golden Eagles with a layup and a couple steals to give them a 31-29 lead with 17:01 left in the game.

Neither team would hold a lead larger than three points over the next 13-plus minutes as the teams traded buckets and the game saw six ties over that span.

With Marquette holding a slim 54-53 lead with 3:22 to go thanks to a Crowder jumper, Turner put LSU on top for good a minute later with a shot from beyond the arc.

The Golden Eagles would not record another bucket until there was 30 seconds remaining and the game was well in hand for the Tigers as LSU made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Game Notes

Hickey had eight points, six assists and five rebounds for LSU...Marquette shot just 36.2 percent from the field in the game, while LSU connected on 53.5 percent of its shots...LSU held the advantage of points in the paint, 22-18...Marquette scored 21 of its points off turnovers.