Arizona Wakes Up Late, Loses

For much of the game it looked as if Louisiana State would win big over No. 1 Arizona.

In the end the Tigers were delighted to hang on for a one-point victory.

LSU, which led by 15 points in the second half, held off a furious rally by Arizona for a 66-65 win Saturday night.

“We were a different team the last five to six minutes than we were earlier in the game,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said.

Jaime Lloreda had 19 points and 13 rebounds for LSU, which beat a No. 1 team for the second time in the program’s history.

The Tigers beat No. 1 Kentucky, 95-94, in overtime on Feb. 11, 1978.

“This game puts us back on the map,” said LSU forward Ronald Dupree, who was nearly the game’s goat after calling for a timeout the Tigers didn’t have. “It was time for us to win a big one and get this town excited about something.”

LSU’s defense frustrated the Wildcats for much of the game and controlled the tempo until the final minutes. The Tigers held Arizona to a season-low 33% shooting from the field, including 18% (four for 22) from three-point range.

“It would have helped if we didn’t miss all the triples we shot,” Olson said. “We had a lot of easy shots that we didn’t put away. Some of that had to do with the challenge of those shots by LSU underneath.”

LSU (7-1), which had won four in a row by 20 or more points, had a 15-point lead over the Wildcats (5-1) in the second half and was up six with about a minute to play. But Arizona had a chance to win with two possessions in the final seconds.

“We won this game by rebounding and guarding,” LSU Coach John Brady said. “I kept telling my team that they were going to make a run at us at some point and they did, but the toughness in the defensive effort of our team was really good.”

It was the second straight loss for Arizona to LSU, which beat the then-fifth-ranked Wildcats, 86-60, in 2000.

After a basket by LSU’s Antonio Hudson, Channing Frye made one free throw to get Arizona within 66-61. Dupree rebounded Frye’s second attempt, but was falling out of bounds and tried to call a timeout. LSU was out of timeouts, and Salim Stoudamire made both of the free throws on the technical foul to make it 66-63.

The Tigers turned the ball over and Andre Iguodala scored, pulling Arizona within 66-65 with 36 seconds left.

A pass from Torris Bright then was picked off by Frye. Jason Gardner drove and lost the ball out of bounds with half a second left. Bright tipped the inbounds pass to clinch the victory for the Tigers.