Chism and No. 14 Tennessee keep LSU winless in SEC with 59-54 victory

Chism leads No. 14 Vols past LSU 59-54

BATON ROUGE, La. — Wayne Chism scored 20 points and No. 14 Tennessee kept LSU winless in the Southeastern Conference with a 59-54 victory Thursday night.

Tennessee (17-4, 5-2) weathered a late rally by the Tigers (9-13, 0-8) after leading 51-37 lead with eight minutes to play. The Volunteers made two field goals the rest of the way.

Bo Spencer scored nine points as the Tigers pulled to 55-54 with 17 seconds remaining. He finished with 25.

Bobby Maze sank two foul shots with 16 seconds left to give the Volunteers (5-2, 17-4) a three-point advantage.

Tasmin Mitchell missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 6 seconds remaining for LSU. Scotty Hopson then clinched the victory with two foul shots for the Vols.

Chism was 9 for 15 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds.

Mitchell finished with 13 points and 17 rebounds, but he was 4 of 12 from the field. The Tigers made 31 percent (18 of 59) of their field goal attempts.

Despite shooting 9 of 30 from the field, Tennessee took a double-digit lead into halftime. Baskets by J.P. Prince and Chism put the Volunteers on top 26-16.

Prince and Chism combined for 14 of Tennessee’s first-half points.

LSU shot even worse than the Vols in the opening 20 minutes. The Tigers made 24 percent (6 of 25) of their field goal attempts.

Tennessee went more than three minutes before scoring their first points on a 3-pointer by Melvin Goins. That basket ignited a 13-0 run which gave the Volunteers an eight-point advantage.

The Volunteers expanded their advantage in the first four minutes of the second half. With Maze and Hopson making 3-pointers, Tennessee moved ahead 36-24.

Mitchell made his first field goal of the night with 18:35 left in the game.

LSU reduced its deficit to 36-28 on two free throws by Aaron Dotson and a basket by Mitchell. The Vols then outscored the Tigers 7-2 to take their biggest lead of game at 43-30. Cameron Tatum had two field goals and a foul shot during that stretch.

A 3-pointer by Spencer again put LSU within eight points at 45-37.

But Tennessee answered with three straight field goals — two by Chism and one by Prince — to go on top by four.