BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Duop Reath shot 10 of 14 from the field and finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and two steals to help LSU beat Louisiana-Lafayette 84-76 on Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT.
Brandon Sampson scored 18 points, Skylar Mays added 11 and Tremont Waters had nine points with seven assists for LSU.
Marcus Stroman hit a jumper with 1:39 to play that capped an 11-1 run and pulled ULL, which trailed by as many as 14 points early in the second half, within one. LSU (18-14) hit 9 of 13 free throws from there to seal it.
Frank Bartley's 3-pointer gave the Ragin' Cajuns (27-7) a 10-2 lead, but LSU scored the next 12 points - including a pair of dunks by Mays - to take the lead for good. A 12-4 run pushed the lead to nine points midway through the second quarter and a 3 by Reath made it 40-28 at the break. ULL grabbed 14 of its season-high 21 offensive rebounds, and scored 13 second-chance points, in the second half.
Bartley led Louisiana-Lafayette with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. Jonathan Stove added 17 points and Stroman scored 12. Stroman, a 6-foot-2 guard, also had a career-high 13 rebounds and seven assists.
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