• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Davis, Temple power LSU past intrastate rival Tulane

Dec 2, 2006 - 10:04 PM NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Tulane gave Louisiana State everything it could handle in the first half. Then Glenn "Big Baby" Davis and Garrett Temple showed up.

Davis and Temple keyed a second-half run with a combined 11 points as the 12th-ranked Tigers overcame a poor first half for a 74-67 victory over Tulane.

Davis finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds - six offensive - and Temple added a career-high 18 and six assists. Temple's previous high of 17 points came in Wednesday's win over McNeese State.

Tulane (4-3) led, 42-36, at halftime and extended the edge to 47-39 with 15:35 remaining before LSU (6-1) used a 19-2 run to take charge.

"We went into the game thinking that if we could play 40 minutes of solid basketball then we'd have a chance to win," Tulane coach Dave Dickerson said. "Our guys did a great job of competing for 40 minutes tonight. LSU showed why they are among the top 10 ranked teams in the country; they made plays when they had to."

Davis started the surge with a pair of free throws and added two inside baskets later in the run. Temple threw down a dunk and knocked down a 3-pointer and Dameon Mason capped the spurt with a dunk to give the Tigers a 58-49 lead with 9:56 to play.

Mason scored 12 points and Tasmin Mitchell added 11 for LSU, which overcame just 40 percent (25-of-62) shooting by holding a 16-3 edge on the offensive glass and 21-9 advantage in made free throws.

"We went through a stretch where we couldn't score," Dickerson said. "It was more than we couldn't score, we just couldn't get the ball off the backboard. They had 16 offensive rebounds and I would venture to say that a third of those offensive rebounds were converted to scores.

"They're a good team, they're athletic, and they're big. Their point guard is 6-5 and our defense is good enough to stop them on initial shots, but in order to win this game we had to get more rebounds than 29, so the disparity on the rebounding aspect of the game was the tell-tale of the game."

Baton Rouge native David Gomez scored 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting for the Green Wave, who lost despite shooting 49 percent (27-of-55).

"I'm from Baton Rouge, so I know most of the guys and I've been playing with them and against them since I was about 12 years old, so this game's always a little special to me," Gomez said. "I was proud of our team's effort, I think everyone stepped up and played."

The Tigers held a 23-17 lead after Temple's layup with 9 1/2 minutes left in the first half, but the Green Wave went on a 21-4 run to take a 38-27 lead with 3:08 to go. Chris Moore hit a pair of shots from the arc and Daniel Puckett hit a jumper and a 3-pointer during the run.

"I definitely think they underestimated us," Gomez said. "Last year they beat us pretty bad and my freshman year they beat us pretty bad too so I guess it's understandable for them to come in and underestimate us. But we came out and played hard and I think we had something to prove and I think we showed them."