By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: In a season that may be easy to forget, Cam Carter provided a memorable moment Saturday night in Norman.
The senior guard who has been LSU’s heartbeat all season scored seven points over 12 seconds to erase a five-point Sooner lead and help LSU win 82-79.
The Sooners led by as many as 13 early in the second half, but a flurry of buckets from Daimion Collins and Vyctorius Miller helped the Tigers cut it to four with 9:51 to play. LSU would eventually take a brief lead on a Carter triple with 7:02 left.
From that point it was a back-and-forth game between a pair of teams desperate for a win.
It appeared Oklahoma was going to salt things away late.
Dayton Forsythe canned a jumper with 1:05 left to put the Sooners up three, and Carter misfired on a three to try to tie it on the ensuing trip. LSU fouled and sent Jalon Moore to the free throw line where he buried a pair of shots to stretch the Oklahoma lead to five with 35 seconds left.
That set the stage for Carter’s theatrics which ultimately stole the show and the game.
Out of a Matt McMahon timeout, LSU got Carter free momentarily for a three from the right wing. He was fouled by Moore in the act of shooting and splashed the shot to trigger a four-point play. After Carter cashed in the free throw, Curtis Givens came up with a steal of Moore and immediately got the ball back to Carter.
The Donaldsonville native slashed to the bucket and laid it off the glass for two plus a foul to take to the lead with eight seconds remaining on the clock.
After Carter made the free throw to go up two, Oklahoma rushed back down the floor, and freshman star Jeremiah Fears hoisted an off balanced layup that missed. Miller was fouled and made a free throw with less than a second left. That provided the final margin.
Carter and LSU earned this one. Those late night flights, early morning workouts, classes and weightlifting can get really old when you’re losing twice a week. LSU had lost seven straight, and now the Tigers can fly home happy for the first time in two months.
For the second consecutive game, the Tigers kept their turnover number to nine. They held Oklahoma to 17 percent from three point range, made 11 threes and, most importantly, continued to fight.
Carter is LSU’s only real chance. Collins deserves a ton of credit for his 22 points in the absence of Corey Chest who didn’t play with back spasms, but Carter is the guy.
In LSU’s two SEC wins, he’s carried the team to the finish line. He did so Saturday with 29 points on 10-for-17 shooting and 5-of-10 from the three point line.
LSU is playing for pride at this point, and that group of guys should have a lot of it on the way home Saturday.
A brutal finish to league play awaits, but LSU hosts winless (at the time of publishing) South Carolina on Tuesday at the Maravich Center.
THE STATS: LSU shot 48 percent to Oklahoma’s 42 percent. LSU shot 39 percent from three to Oklahoma’s 17 percent.
Daimion Collins was 8-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-2 from deep for a season-high 22 points in 23 minutes. He also blocked four shots.
LSU got beat on the glass 43-28. OU had 14 offensive rebounds to LSU’s 4. That led to a 16-4 second chance points edge to the Sooners.
OU won paint points 38-28.
LSU shot a sizzling 59 percent in the second half including 54 percent from three-point range. That led to 53 points after halftime.
LSU led the SEC in free throw shooting three weeks ago. It’s been a struggle lately. Saturday was another bad effort. LSU was just 17-for-30 for 57 percent. Curtis Givens was 1-for-5.
Dji Bailey made all three of his three pointers. He entered the game a 27 percent three-point shooter.
Jordan Sears did not score in 10 minutes of action.
