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LSU Rallies Past Gators

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

BATON ROUGE, La. - Marcus Thornton scored 32 points and No. 18 LSU clinched a share of the Southeastern Conference championship with an 81-75 victory against Florida on Tuesday night.

The Tigers (24-4, 12-1) have won nine straight overall and 12 in a row in SEC play. They can win their second outright conference title in the last four seasons with one victory in their last three games.

Garett Temple scored a career-high 21 points for the Tigers. Tasmin Mitchell added 12 points.

Walter Hodge paced the Gators (21-7, 8-5) with 16 points.

The Tigers trailed 56-53 before going on a 14-2 run to take control of the game. A basket by Temple was followed by Bo Spencer's three-point play and gave LSU a 58-56 lead. After Alex Tyus tied the score for Florida, LSU scored nine consecutive points.

Two free throws by Mitchell gave the Tigers the lead at 60-58 with 10:18 to go. A 3-poiuter by Temple, a layup by Mitchell and two foul shots by Thornton boosted the LSU advantage to nine points at 67-58 with 8:01 to play.

The Gators scored six straight points on a 3-point play by Ray Shipman and a 3-pointer by Ervin Walker. LSU rebuilt its advantage to seven points on two foul shots by Thornton and a dunk by Chris Johnson.

Florida closed the first half on a 17-5 run to take a four-point lead. The Gators were behind 32-24 after Thornton made his third 3-pointer with 6:58 left before halftime.

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