Nov. 14—LSU’s Donovan Dent ran red-hot in the first half, navigated an ice-cold stretch in the second and finished Gonzaga off with a stone-cold 3-pointer in the waning seconds of an exhilarating come-from-behind victory at Numerica Veterans Arena.
Gonzaga led by 13 points with 8 minutes, 11 seconds remaining when a late 3-point shooting flurry kickstarted LSU’s comeback. The Tigers connected on four 3’s in less than three minutes before Dent laced a 24-foot step-back shot over Chauncey Wiggins, instantly quieting a sellout crowd of 12,000 fans. A 45-foot heave from Davis Fogle ricocheted off the backboard as the buzzer sounded, sealing the first loss of the season for 14th-ranked Gonzaga and snapping a seven-game win streak at the Arena.
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After corresponding with Dent about a potential move to Gonzaga this offseason, Mark Few’s team instead had to watch the fifth-year point guard post 23 points and dial up 10 assists in an LSU uniform. Dent scored 16 points in the first half but the UCLA transfer managed only four more in the second before the late 3-point dagger. Dent crossed halfcourt, stopping at the left wing before putting a dribble-move on Wiggins to create separation, giving him a clean look at the rim with less than five seconds on the game clock.
“My guy tripped at the halfcourt,” Dent said, describing the final play. “I was kind of giving it a running start momentum, so I’s get the pitch back. We got the switch and I don’t think we wanted to go to overtime here, so I knew I was shooting no matter what, and it went in.”
Dent, who planned to retire from basketball after the 2025-26 season, elected to pursue another season of eligibility late in the summer and touched base with Few’s coaching staff after Gonzaga lost starting point guard Mario Saint-Supery on July 11.
“It’s a great program. (Gonzaga) reached out to me, LSU reached out to me,” Dent said. “Ultimately I chose coach (Will) Wade and his staff, and I’m happy with it.”
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Dent and the transfer point guard Gonzaga eventually signed, Florida’s Xaivian Lee, both won a preliminary injunction in California three months ago, clearing both to compete in 2026-27 and putting them on opposite ends of the court Saturday afternoon.
Lee picked up two fouls inside the first two minutes and was whistled for his third before halftime. Gonzaga’s starting point guard provided some clutch shooting in the second half, but also committed a costly turnover with 1 minute, 11 seconds left, traveling after he slipped on a sideline out-of-bounds play.
Gonzaga made a series of late mental mistakes, unraveling down the stretch of a game the Bulldogs appeared in firm control of when Braden Huff’s short jumper extended the lead to 68-55.
Gonzaga made 12 of 15 shots from the field at one point in the second half to build a double-digit lead, but finished 4 of 13 down the stretch and didn’t make a shot in the final three minutes.
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Meanwhile, LSU settled into an offensive groove late in the game, making 8 of its final 12 shots while getting nine points on three 3-pointers from guard Abdi Bashir Jr. in the final 5 minutes, 20 seconds.
“Obviously we did lose shooters, some of it was the actions they were running,” Few said. “We have to tag on their bigs rolling, got a couple of guys miss the low hole so they had to cover in or give up a dunk. Then obviously just the offensive glass I thought was a key again. Just huge, huge offensive rebound after offensive rebound.
“We’d get a stop on the first action and then they’d just pin their ear back and we couldn’t get an offensive rebound at the end, including a huge one on a free throw, which we’ve worked on a lot.”
Bashir Jr. supplemented LSU’s scoring with 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the 3-point line for a Tigers team that finished 8 of 14 from distance in the second half.
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Huff led Gonzaga with 18 points and 13 rebounds, finishing 8 of 16 from the field. Fogle overcame a slow offensive start and navigated lower-body cramps in the second half to finish with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, 1 of 5 from the 3-point line and 4 of 7 from the free throw line. Fogle also had eight rebounds and six assists. Shooting guard Isiah Harwell lifted Gonzaga’s offense in the second half with a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
Gonzaga was 0 of 8 from deep before Wiggins made the team’s first 3-pointer with 17 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the second half. Wiggins, who secured a fifth year of eligibility Thursday afternoon through a preliminary injunction in Spokane Country, had three points in 13 minutes for Gonzaga.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
