Tigers fall to Vanderbilt, 61-76

The road script was a familiar one Wednesday night for LSU.

The Tigers (13-10, 3-6 Southeastern Conference) couldn't overcome an inefficient second-half offense and a dominant opposing inside presence in a 76-61 loss at Vanderbilt.

Commodores senior center Festus Ezeli bludgeoned his way to 21 points, and upperclassmen guards Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins combined for 39 more to lead a second-half surge.

"Taylor is a special player, and Festus played really well," said LSU coach Trent Johnson in a postgame radio interview. "That's a lot to handle when their best is playing like that. Tip your hat to Vandy."

LSU is now 0-5 this season in SEC road games and 2-21 since January 2010 against conference foes away from the PMAC.

The Tigers fixed one of their nagging issues, only turning over the ball six times, but fell apart defensively in the final 20 minutes, as Vanderbilt (17-7, 6-3 SEC) consistently found the free-throw line on 16 LSU fouls.

Four Tigers finished in double-figures scoring, but their solid offensive execution was usually nullified by LSU's 37 percent shooting — including just 3-of-21 on 3-point attempts.

"We did everything reasonably well except put the ball in the hole," Johnson said. "The rebounding was even, we didn't turn it over, and our guys got great looks. You have to think the law of averages will help those shots drop at some point."

Senior forward Storm Warren led LSU with 13 points, sophomore guard Ralston Turner added 12 points and junior center Justin Hamilton also had 12, though he didn't score in the final 17 minutes.

The Commodores scored 49 points in the second half to break open a 27-27 halftime tie.

Vandy stormed out of the halftime locker room, opening up an 11-point lead behind Ezeli's relentless play in the paint and by speeding up the game's pace.

Vanderbilt shot 21 free throws in the second half, nine of them by Ezeli during the Commodores six-minute blitz to open the final half.

The Tigers would fight back, though, as consecutive LSU three-point possessions cut the Commodores' lead to four with six minutes to play.

But, after the teams traded baskets, Vanderbilt promptly used an Ezeli dunk and a Jenkins 3-pointer near the four-minute mark to effectively seal the game.

Vanderbilt finished the game on a 13-2 run to extend its winning streak against LSU to seven games.

"I'm frustrated, but I feel for this team," Johnson said. "The execution is there. We just have to make sure this loss doesn't linger over against Alabama on Saturday."

Vanderbilt held an eight-point lead mid-way through the first half, but cold Commodore shooting and a persistent LSU offense gave the Tigers a brief 27-25 lead with eight seconds left before halftime.

But Taylor carved his way into the lane, laying the ball in to tie the game at halftime and setting up Vanderbilt's late dominance.

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Contact Chris Abshire at cabshire@lsureveille.com