Mizzou hoops’ comeback bid falls short in loss to LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou men's basketball team fell short of a comeback win at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, losing to LSU 78-70.

With the defeat, the Tigers drop to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in Southeastern Conference action.

It was one of the ugliest first halves that Mizzou has played all season, as the Tigers headed into the locker room down 10. Head coach Dennis Gates' team shot an abysmal 33 percent from the field and 22 percent from 3-point range, as center Shawn Phillips Jr. led the scoring charge in those first 20 minutes with six points.

Something needed to change, coming out of the locker room, but LSU just put its foot more into the gas. The bayou Tigers got up by as many as 14 points, but Mizzou clawed back into it in the final 15 minutes.

Down 45-31, Gates' team went on a 14-5 scoring run over the course of four minutes. In that stretch, key buckets from guard Jayden Stone and Trent Pierce played a critical role, as those two combined for 22 of MU's 43 second half points.

Mizzou did shoot at a higher clip in the second half, lifting the Tigers to a 42.4 percent shooting night from the field, overall. and a 38.5 percent outing from 3-point range.

Stone led the scoring charge for Coach Gates with 20 points in the loss, followed up by Mitchell (13), T.O. Barrett (11) and Shawn Phillips Jr. (10).

Up next - Mizzou will return home to host Georgia on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Tip off is scheduled for 8 p.m.