Marquel Sutton scored a season-high 26 points as LSU held on for its first SEC victory, beating visiting Missouri 78-70 Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge, La.
Three days after blowing an 18-point lead in a one-point home loss to Kentucky, LSU (13-5, 1-4 SEC) never trailed and held a 14-point lead early in the second half before making enough plays down the stretch to fend off Missouri’s comeback bid.
Sutton scored 19 points in the first half and made 7 of 14 shots overall. He also hit 10 of 14 free throws and contributed six rebounds.
Max MacKinnon added 20 on 7-of-19 shooting after going 4 of 16 against Kentucky. He also sank four of LSU’s 10 3-pointers.
While Sutton and MacKinnon were the only LSU players in double figures, others contributed. Michael Nwoko pulled down eight rebounds and Rob Miller III contributed seven boards as LSU grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and scored 21 second-chance points.
LSU shot 42.4% and only committed seven turnovers.
Jayden Stone led Missouri (13-5, 3-2) with 20 points but leading scorer Mark Mitchell was in foul trouble and never in a rhythm. He finished with 13 points but only took six shots.
T.O Barrett added 11 and Shawn Phillips had 10 as Missouri shot 43.5% after entering the game as the SEC’s top shooting team
Missouri missed its first seven shots and LSU scored the game’s first 10 points, taking a double-digit lead on a jumper by Miller with 15:15 left. Sutton scored 13 straight LSU points, hitting a 3, two layups, a mid-range jumper and four free throws to help turn a 22-13 lead into a 37-27 edge at halftime.
Tamba converted a 3-point play to give LSU a 45-31 lead with 16:44 remaining and Missouri inched within 53-50 on a triple from the top of the key by Stone with 10:11 left. Sutton scored his first points of the half on a drive to give LSU a 60-52 lead with 7:46 left after Nwoko blocked Stone at the rim.
MacKinnon countered a dunk by Phillips by hitting an open 3 for a 65-55 lead with 6:26 left and Sutton’s layup pushed LSU’s lead to 69-59 with 4:56 to go. MacKinnon’s spinning off-balance layup with 2:46 left gave LSU a 71-63 lead and LSU hit four free throws in the final 26 seconds to secure the win.
