LSU beats Bulldogs

Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — Andre Stringer scored 18 points to lead LSU to a 61-53 victory against Georgia in a Southeastern Conference game on Wednesday night.

Stringer matched his career-high with four 3-pointers. His last 3-pointer ignited a 9-2 run, which helped the Tigers pick up their fifth victory in the past six games.

LSU (17-10, 7-6), which had a ten-point lead with slightly more than two minutes remaining in the game, didn't clinch the victory until the last 30 seconds. A field goal and two free throws by Gerald Robinson, Jr. put the Bulldogs behind by six at 54-48.

Georgia cut its deficit to four points at 57-53 when Robinson made a layup with 27 seconds to play. The Bulldogs (12-15, 3-10) didn't score again, while both Ralston Turner and Justin Hamilton sank a pair of foul shots for the Tigers.

Johnny O'Bryant added 14 points for LSU.

Robinson scored 17 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipped in 10 to lead Georgia, which lost its third straight.

LSU scored the first 10 points less than 3 minutes into the game, as O'Bryant made a field goal and converted a three-point play, Stringer connected on a 3-pointer and Anthony Hickey drove for a layup.

The Tigers led by no fewer than eight until the final seconds of the first half. Trailing 29-17, Georgia scored the last six points before halftime on field goals by Caldwell-Pope, Dustin Ware and Robinson.

LSU could not pull away from Georgia in the second half.

The Tigers went ahead by eight points on a couple of occasions — the last time at 42-34 after a 3-pointer by Stringer. However, the Bulldogs reduced their deficit to three points at 45-42, following Donte' Williams' three-point play with 6:49 to go.

LSU then put together the key run, wrapping up the victory. Stringer started the outburst with a 3-pointer. After another basket by Donte' Williams, Turner knocked down a 3 — his only field goal of the game.

Two foul shots by Hamilton and one by Chris Bass built the Tigers' lead to 10 points at 54-44 with 2:23 remaining. LSU then withstood one more Georgia rally to secure the victory.