Gators fall to LSU
BATON ROUGE, LA. (AP) – Marcus Thornton scored 32 points and No. 18 LSU clinched a share of the Southeastern Conference championship with an 81-75 victory against Florida Tuesday night.
The Tigers (24-4, 12-1) have won ninth straight overall and 12 in a row in SEC play. They can win their second outright conference title in the last four seasons with one victory in the last three games.
Garett Temple scored a career-high 21 points for the Tigers.
Walter Hodge paced the Gators (21-7, 8-5) with 16 points.
The Tigers trailed 56-53 before going on a 14-2 run to take control of the game. A basket by Temple was followed by Bo Spencer’s three-point play and gave LSU a 58-56 lead. After Alex Tyus tied the score for Florida, LSU scored nine consecutive points.
Two free throws by Mitchell gave the Tigers the lead at 60-58 with 10:18 to go. A three-pointer by Temple, a layup by Mitchell and two foul shots by Thornton boosted the LSU advantage to nine points at 67-58 with 8:01 to play.
The Gators scored six straight points on a three-point play by Ray Shipman and a three-pointer by Ervin Walker. Florida came no closer than four points the rest of the way.
Boston College 72, No. 23 Florida State 67: Tyrese Rice hit a key three-pointer with 20.5 seconds to play and Joe Trapani scored 19 points to lead Boston College to an upset of No. 23 Florida State.
It is the Eagles (20-9, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) third win this season against one of the conference’s top teams. They handed then-No. 1 North Carolina its first loss on Jan. 4 in Chapel Hill and beat No. 7 Duke at home nine days ago.
Rice, who finished with just 11 points, was scoreless in the first half, but hit his 3 as the Eagles were clinging to a one-point lead. Rakim Sanders added 16 points and nine rebounds for Boston College.
Toney Douglas led the Seminoles (21-7, 8-5) with 19 points, but committed six of their 18 turnovers. Soloman Alabi had 16 points and seven rebounds.