Revenge Denied: LSU Falters at A&M, 68-62

The Tigers’ winning ways on the road came to an end in College Station by a final score of 68-62. The game had its share of ups-and-downs, scoring streaks, and momentum shifts for both teams. For the casual college basketball fan, it was an exciting game. But, for the die-hard LSU fan, it was another gut wrenching defeat like others previously on the year.

Early on it seemed like the Tigers’ offensive woes to close out the first game against the Aggies carried over to tonight. The team was also plagued early with turnovers capitalized upon by the home team. The momentum swung to the other end of the Reed Arena court as Johnny Jones went to his bench.

Brian Bridgewater entered the game and scored. Tigers at that point were down 23-22. They took the lead for the first time on the night off the fingers of Tim Quarterman. Jordan Mickey added another basket to go up 29-26 as a time out was called with just under four minutes remaining in the half. LSU then began capitalizing on Aggie turnovers.  Mickey got a block shot that lead to a Josh Gray basket. The Tigers were then up 34-26 and led at the half 36-31. LSU would not again blow a halftime lead against Texas A&M, would they?

Jarell Martin started the second half with a basket. Aggies quickly answered as the Tigers lead by five points at 38-33. Martin and Mickey at this point both got involved offensively on the night. Mickey headed to the line at the 18:53 mark. He sunk them both for his third and fourth points on the night. The pair continued to add points on the night, and with a timeout on the court with 15:21 to go LSU was up 44-38.

Points were not the only thing the M&M boys were adding. Mickey added blocked shots on the night as he totaled 200 in his career. Martin, on the other hand, added fouls as he would later foul out. The Aggies were hanging tough and would not go away easily as they tied the game at 50. The game went back-and-forth the rest of the night as evidenced by the Tigers taking the lead 56-54 on another Bridgewater basket until Caruso tied it up again. At that point it appeared the wheels came off the wagon for the Tigers as revenge was denied in College Station.