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ATLANTA (Ticker) -- No. 19 Georgia had another brief stay in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Freshman Antonio Hudson scored 23 points and Torris Bright put Louisiana State ahead to stay with a basket with 91 seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 78-76 victory over Georgia in a quarterfinal game. LSU (18-13) won its fourth straight game and advances to play Mississippi State in Saturday's semifinals. Ezra Williams had 27 points for the Bulldogs (21-9), who have not won a game in the SEC tournament since 1998. The early-round loss is almost certain to hurt the NCAA Tournament seeding of Georgia, which entered as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Division. "They beat us in most aspects of our game," Georgia coach Jim Harrick said. "LSU made every shot they needed to in the second half, and the ones they didn't make, they got fouled." While Williams carried the Bulldogs for most of the game, Georgia's best free-throw shooter missed a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds left. With the score tied at 74-74, Bright threw an inbounds pass off a Georgia defender and recovered the ball. Bright threw the ball up and Hudson tapped it in the basket with 1:31 left to put the Bulldogs ahead. "I think it was a great win for us. We played hard and never gave up," Bright said. "We played our hearts out and the game went our way." Williams missed a 3-pointer that would have put Georgia ahead. Bright recovered the ball, and on the seat of his pants, heaved a pass that led to a dunk by Brad Bridgewater with 13.1 seconds left. Georgia had another chance when Hudson fouled Williams, but Williams missed a pair of free throws, sealing the Bulldogs' fate. After the second miss, the ball landed in the hands of Ronald Dupree, who was fouled. Dupree missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but time ran out as the teams battled for a loose ball. Bridgewater had 14 points and seven rebounds. Dupree had 18 and nine and Bright had 17 points. "I am proud of our team, extremely proud," LSU coach John Brady said. "They went through a lot of adversity at the midpoint of the season and believed in the system." Brady used just seven players and all of the scoring came from the starting five. LSU dominated at the line, making 19-of-24 shots compared to 6-of-12 for Georgia to defeat a ranked team for the first time this season. "We stuck to the game plan. We didn't get shaken up when they went on their runs," Dupree said. "We weathered the storm and were were able to keep our poise." The Tigers have not lost since a 55-54 setback to Georgia on February 23 and defeated the Bulldogs for just the third time in the last 15 meetings. Georgia was frustrated by the Tigers in the SEC tournament game for the second year in a row. LSU escaped with a one-point win in 2001 when Williams turned the ball over with 22 seconds left. The Bulldogs built an early 20-8 lead, but the Tigers took advantage of 10 turnovers by Georgia to build a 38-35 halftime lead. |
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