BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team battled LSU evenly for the initial 12 minutes of the first half, but the Tigers' 56 percent shooting accuracy and superior muscle under the boards led the Bayou Bengals to a 91-50 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
 
UIW is now 5-6 on the year. LSU improved its record to 7-2.
 
Christian Peevy led the team in scoring with 16 points, turning in his fourth consecutive double-digit performance. Augustine Ene chipped in 13.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half:

• UIW started: Dwight Murray Jr., Peevy, Charles Brown III, Ene and Morgan Taylor.
• LSU took an early eight-point lead, but jumpers by Jordan Caruso and Brown III closed the gap to four at 14:24 remining in the half.
• LSU extended its lead to ten points, but a three-pointer by Ene cut the margin to 20-16 with 10:30 left.
• Peevy's two free throws cut LSU's lead to three with 9:15 remaining (22-19).
• After LSU went ahead by five, Peevy hit two free throws to narrow the Tiger lead to 24-21.
• Ene's two free throws cut LSU's lead to one, 24-23, with 7:51 remaining.
• In the last 4:20 of the half, the Tigers went on an 18-2 run to take a 51-29 halftime lead.
• Peevy scored 12 points and Ene added nine.
• UIW hit 10 of 12 free throws in the first half (83.3 percent).

Second Half:

• The Cardinals continued their nation-leading free throw accuracy with a pair of early shots from the charity line, but LSU managed to extend its lead to 25 points in the first five minutes of the second half.
• LSU took an 84-44 lead with 3:30 remaining in the game and closed out its seventh victory of the season.

COACH CUNNINGHAM SAID
"I thought we did some nice things early in the game, maybe the first 16 minutes or so.  We struggled with our shooting and that really hurt us.  In a game like this you're going to have to hope that you shoot really well, and we didn't do that.  LSU shot pretty darn well.  That's going to make it tough with the type of length and skill that they have."
 
On Christian Peevy and Augustine Ene…
"They've been playing really well.  I think they're getting into the paint and they're causing some problems for people to deal with them.  Off the dribble and cutting, we got some nice stuff for a long stretch in that game.  But we have to figure out how to sustain it.  You have to give LSU some credit.  They rebounded really, really well and shot the ball well."
 
On problems LSU presented and plans for improvement…
"Their length and their shooting really stood out.  They executed their offensive action well, so we'll keep plugging away."

NEXT UP
The Cardinals return to action Dec. 17 with a game against the University of Illinois-Chicago before battling DePaul on Dec. 19 to close the two-game Chicagoland road trip.
 
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