Yante Maten, Rayshaun Hammonds lead Georgia over LSU

Georgia set a season-high with 93 points while earning a much-needed win over LSU Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.

Mark Fox opted to make another change to his starting lineup on Saturday inserting freshman Teshaun Hightower and senior Derek Ogbeide into the starting lineup. The Bulldogs got off to a bit of a slow start falling behind 7-3 in the opening two minutes but answered with a 9-0 run to take a 12-7 lead.

Georgia would maintain that an advantage for most of the first half before Tremont Waters knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:36 remaining that tied the game at 28-28. The Bulldogs would then close the half well finishing with a 17-6 run to take a 45-34 lead into the intermission.

Georgia slammed the door shut to start the second half opening it up with an 11-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Juwan Parker to make the score 56-34. The Tigers tried to cut into the lead late but the Bulldogs were able to finish things out at the free throw line to seal the win.

Georgia put up one of its best offensive performances of the season shooting 49 percent from the field while dominating the boards. Yante Maten had another dominant performance with a game-high 27 points to go along with 11 rebounds. The changes to the lineup relegated Rayshaun Hammonds to a bench role but he came up big finishing with 21 points and eight boards.

Parker added 15 points and a couple of made threes while Ogbeide logged a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Waters led LSU with 25 points.

Georgia improves to 16-12 on the season and 7-9 in conference play. They need to win out in order to reach the .500 mark in the conference to give themselves a better chance of earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs will close out the home portion of their schedule on Wednesday against Texas A&M. They will wrap up the regular season on the road at Tennessee next Saturday.