Georgia down by one with 6.7 seconds left, J.J. Frazier rushes the ball down the court. He attempts to lay the ball up, but an LSU player fouls him with 1.6 seconds remaining. Frazier seals the win for Georgia after sinking two free throws, 82-80 over LSU on Saturday night in Stegman Coliseum.
Frazier was the Bulldogs leading scorer against LSU as he put up 29 points and eight assists. He has posted 28 points or more in four of his last five games. All five starters scored at least eight points including E’Torrion Wilridge who tied his career high with eight. Derek Ogbeide and Juwan Parker each banked 12 points, and William “Turtle” Jackson posted nine points.
“J.J. loves competition and that’s one thing I loved about him when we recruited him,” Coach Fox said. “He just loves to compete and guys that love to compete are better when the game is on the line. That’s one of the reasons why he is good. He has that personality trait and that certainly worked to our benefit tonight.”
Georgia took an early lead during the first half and kept it comfortable going into halftime up seven points. The Bulldogs shot 17-of-31 during the first half shooting 54.8 percent from the field. Tyree Crump hit a stretch of sinking two consective three-pointers during the first. He was one of many that produced for Georgia’s offense against the Tigers. Ogbeide came up big for the Bulldogs during the first half as well. He scored nine points and made key shots to keep Georgia’s lead.
However, the Tigers never stopped fighting as they chipped away at the lead. LSU tied Georgia at 69 all with 6:21 left in the matchup. Frazier went back to the foul line on the next possession. He sank the first, but missed the second. Frazier snuck in and tiped his missed free throw back in for a quick three point play. A few posessions later, he was able to convert another three point play after Wildrege nailed a huge block.
LSU made a last minute comeback after going on a 7-0 run with 1:25 on the clock. The Tigers took the lead and quickly made it a three-point lead on their next posession. LSU’s small momentum surge didn’t affect the Bulldogs as Frazier took the ball down the court, drove deep into the lane and passed to Ogbeide who laid it in. After LSU missed a shot and failed to bring the rebound down, Frazier would go on to give Georgia the key shots to seal the win.
“[Frazier] certainly made the two biggest free throws of the night,” Head Coach Mark Fox said. “LSU’s been in every game and we knew that they would be in this game, especially with how short handed we are up front. Our rebounding was suspect tonight, especially in the second half, as we were down, but give LSU credit for making it a heck of a game. At the end, we were composed and we executed what we wanted and J.J. went to the basket and got fouled. He is one of the best free throw shooters, if not the best in the history of the school, so we have a lot of confidence that he would knock those down.”
Georgia returns to Stegman on Wednesday to play their final home game of the season, facing Auburn at 6 p.m.
Here is the UGA v LSU Gallery:
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