BATON ROUGE, La. - Fast starts to both halves propelled unbeaten LSU to a 99-73 win over Omaha Men's Basketball on Friday night.
The Tigers led 12-0 three minutes into the game as they hit five of their first seven shots. LSU (5-0) then outscored the Mavericks (2-4) 17-3 in the first five minutes of the second half, extending its lead to 27 points.
Omaha was led
Lance Waddles with 19 points as he scored the Mavs' first 11 points of the second half.
Khamani Cooper (15) and
Tony Osburn (13) also were in double figures for Omaha.
LSU forward and former Maverick
Marquel Sutton finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Sutton, who was the Summit League Player of the Year for the Mavericks last season, entering Friday's game averaging 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds. He was presented with his NCAA tournament watch and Summit League regular-season and tournament and March Madness rings in a pregame ceremony.
Omaha never trailed by more than 16 in the first half as the Mavs played LSU even the rest of the half after the Tigers raced to their 12-0 lead.
A
Kamryn Thomas jumper pulled Omaha within 16-9 before Sutton answered with a three. Seven points was as close as Omaha got after the opening minutes.
LSU, which entered Friday averaging 98.5 points per game, shot 58 percent from the field in the first half, hitting nine 3s. Seven Mavs made field goals in the first half as they trailed 50-37 at the break.
But Omaha couldn't build any momentum early in the second half. LSU was sparked by Max Mackinnon, who hit three triples in the first five minutes in the second half. Mackinnon finished with a game-high 22 points.
LSU shot 52.4 percent from the field for the night, hitting 15 3-pointers.
Omaha also got nine points, five rebounds and three assists from
Ja'Sean Glover, who had scored a career-high 24 points on Wednesday against Concordia. Freshman
Brock Scholl was Omaha's top rebounder with seven.
Omaha's pre-Thanksgiving road trip continues Tuesday when the Mavericks face James Madison in Miami.
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