BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tari Eason finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and three steals to power LSU to an 84-65 victory over Georgia.
Eason came off the bench in the first half to score 17 and grab six boards, sparking the Tigers (19-7, 7-6 Southeastern Conference) to a 38-22 lead at halftime.
LSU forced 15 turnovers in the first half and had a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Tigers raced to their first-half lead by outscoring the Bulldogs (6-20, 1-12) 26-2 in the paint. Xavier Pinson’s layup following another Georgia turnover pushed LSU’s lead to 49-29 with 16:27 left.
Eric Gaines’ 3-pointer gave the Tigers their biggest lead, 70-42 with 7:07 left.
Kario Oquendo hit three 3-pointers and scored 26 to pace Georgia.