National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisiana State 68, South Carolina 58
When: 1:45 PM ET, Saturday, February 18, 2012
Where: The Colonial Center Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
Officials: # Don Daily, # Rick Hartzell, # Garry Maxwell
Attendance: 10092

LSU 68, SOUTH CAROLINA 58: Storm Warren enjoyed his best game in over a month as the Tigers overcame a sloppy first half to secure their first road conference victory of the season.

Warren finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and Justin Hamilton scored a game-high 18 for LSU (16-10, 6-6 SEC), which has won three straight for the first time since late December and defeated an SEC rival away from home for the first time since Feb. 23, 2011.

Although Malik Cooke kept South Carolina (10-16, 2-10) in the game with 15 second-half points – including consecutive 3-pointers that moved the Gamecocks to within 56-52 with 3:18 remaining – the Tigers answered with five unanswered points in 16 seconds to retake control of the game.

Cooke finished with 17 points to pace the Gamecocks, who have lost six of seven to remain at the bottom of the conference standings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: LSU committed its 11th turnover at the 4:45 mark of the first half, matching its total from Tuesday’s overtime home win against Mississippi State … Cooke reached the 1,000-point plateau and has scored 604 points as a Gamecock after recording 407 points in two seasons at the University of Nevada before transferring … The Tigers’ sixth conference win eclipsed their total from the previous two seasons.
Top Game Performances
 
Louisiana State   South Carolina
Justin Hamilton 18 Scoring Malik Cooke 17
Anthony Hickey 7 Assists Damontre Harris 3
Storm Warren 8 Rebounds Bruce Ellington 7
Justin Hamilton 8 Free Throws Made Malik Cooke 4
Anthony Hickey 3 Steals Bruce Ellington 1
Johnny O'Bryant III 2 Blocks Damontre Harris 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Louisiana State 68 49.0 5-10 15-21 18 33 3 4 17
South Carolina 58 42.6 4-17 14-21 13 23 4 6 10