LSU pulls away from Omaha with second-half surge

Max Mackinnon scored 22 points and Dedan Thomas Jr. added 15 points and 10 assists to lead LSU to a 99-73 nonconference win over Omaha on Friday in Baton Rouge, La.

The Tigers (5-0) used a 17-3 run to start the second half to put away the Mavericks (2-4).

Mackinnon hit 7 of 11 shots from the field, including 6 of 8 on 3-point attempts.

Pablo Tamba had 13 rebounds for the Tigers and Mike Nwoko added 14 points.

Lance Waddles led Omaha with 19 points and Tony Osburn added 13 for the Summit League school.

The Tigers led 50-37 at halftime as Thomas dominated.

He was 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range and went 3 of 4 from the line. He also added five assists in the first half.

LSU opened the game on a 12-0 run with Thomas hitting a layup and a 3-pointer.

Grant Stubblefield stopped the run for Omaha with back-to-back layups.

A Christian Richardson dunk cut LSU's lead to 19-11, but Thomas and Co. took over from there.

Mackinnon and Thomas hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 36-20 with 6:11 left in the half.

Khamani Cooper hit a 3-pointer for Omaha and Ja'Sean Glover scored four straight points for the Mavericks to make it 38-27 LSU with 3:44 left.

Thomas, however, answered with a three-point play to make it 41-27 with 3:30 to go in the half.

PJ Carter then hit three straight 3-pointers for the Tigers to boost the lead to 50-35.

The Tigers shot 58.1 percent (18 of 31) from the floor compared to 40 percent (14 of 35) for the Mavericks in the first half.

LSU also shot 47.4 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 9 of 19 in the first half.

The Tigers came out firing in the second half to go up 67-40 with 14:50 remaining in the game.

Mackinnon led the charge with three more 3-pointers.

Thomas became a playmaker to start the second half with three assists in the big run, including two on Mackinnon 3-pointers.

--Field Level Media