12/21/2002

By MARY FOSTER
AP Sports Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Jaime Lloreda had 19 points and 13 rebounds and LSU held on for a 66-65 victory over No. 1 Arizona on Saturday night.

LSU's defense frustrated the Wildcats for much of the game and controlled the tempo until the final minutes. The Tigers held Arizona to a season-low 33 percent from the field, including 18 percent (4-of-22) from 3-point range.

LSU (7-1), which had won four straight games by 20 or more points, had a 15-point lead over the Wildcats (5-1) in the second half and were up six with about a minute to play. But Arizona had a chance to win with two possessions in the final seconds.

"We won this game by rebounding and guarding," LSU coach John Brady said. "I kept telling my team that they were going to make a run at us at some point and they did, but the toughness in the defensive effort of our team was really good."

It was the second straight loss for Arizona to LSU as the Tigers beat the Wildcats 86-60 in 2000.

"LSU was much more patient," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "Their defense made us very impatient. I don't know how you can play 34 minutes without a sense of urgency and then six minutes with one. We have to learn to play that way the whole game."

After a basket by LSU's Antonio Hudson, Channing Frye made one free throw to get Arizona within 66-61. Ronald Dupree rebounded Frye's second attempt, but was falling out of bounds and tried to call a timeout. LSU was out of timeouts, and Salim Stoudamire made both of the free throws on the technical foul to make it 66-63.

The Tigers turned the ball over and Andre Iguodala scored, pulling Arizona within 66-65 with 36 seconds left.

A pass from Torris Bright then was picked off by Frye. Jason Gardner drove and lost the ball out of bounds with half a second left. Bright tipped the inbounds pass to preserve the victory for the Tigers, sending the fans onto the floor to celebrate.

Hudson had 20 points for LSU, while Dupree added 12. Bright had seven points and seven assists.

Gardner led Arizona with 16 points, while Rick Anderson, Hassan Adams and Frye each scored 11. Iguodla had 11 rebounds.

Arizona's loss paves the way for Alabama to move up one spot in the AP poll when it's released Monday. The Crimson Tide, which beat Providence 69-61 Saturday, have never been ranked No. 1.

LSU opened the second half with a 6-0 run to take a 38-26 lead. When Lloreda made two free throws with 15:14 left in the game, LSU had a 42-28 lead.

Arizona had only four free throws in the second half before Adams made a basket with 12:05 left to pull the Wildcats within 42-32.

LSU led 49-34 with 9:20 left, but the Wildcats got within 53-50 with 5:06 left.

Bright made two foul shots then Lloreda took a pass from Bright and was fouled making the layup. His free throw put the Tigers up 58-51 with 4:03 left.

A layup by Stoudamire with 1:58 left pulled the Wildcats within 64-60.

The Tigers, after struggling against the bigger Wildcats, started cold from the field but made 10 of 14 shots over the final 12 minutes of the half. LSU led by as many as eight points in the final minute and was up 32-26 at halftime.

Arizona shot just 34 percent (11-of-32) from the field in the first half, and was 3-of-10 from 3-point range. The Tigers shot 54 percent from the field (13-of-24).

"We rushed some shots, we forced some shots, some shots were there but we couldn't knock them down," Gardner said.