BATON ROUGE, La. — Bo Spencer knocked down a long three-pointer from the top of the key with 2:46 to play to push LSU back in front 60-57, and spark the decision run of the game as the Tigers (3-0) held off a
determined Western Kentucky University (1-1) squad 71-60 in front of
8,220 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. on
Tuesday night. The game was for the championship of the South Region pod of the 25th Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off.

Third-seeded LSU becomes the third school to punch its ticket to
the "First Four" in Madison Square Garden over the Thanksgiving
holiday, joining top-seeded Duke and second seed UConn. The West
Region is still ongoing. Fifth-seeded WKU will return home to Bowling
Green, Ky. to host three schools in the consolation round next Monday
and Tuesday.

Following the Spencer triple, LSU got the ball back following an
offensive foul assessed against the Hilltoppers. A dunk by Dennis
Harris off a Tasmin Mitchell feed extended the lead to five while
Spencer tacked on a layup and three free throws as the Tigers used the 12-0 run to take control 69-57 with 40 seconds to play.

Spencer finished with a career-high 28 on 4-of-9 from long range and 8-of-9 at the stripe. LSU managed to get to the line 18 times in the
second half, converting 15, and shooting 78.3 percent for the game (18-
of-23). WKU was 6-of-8 in the second half and 8-of-10 for the
contest.

Sergio Kerusch was the main offensive weapon for the Hilltoppers as he scored 19 of his team-high 25 in the first half. The junior from
Memphis, Tenn. just missed tying his career-high by one point, going 9-
of-15 from the floor including 5-of-7 from three-point range. His trey
with 34 ticks left represented the only WKU points in the final three
minutes.

The back-and-forth affair witnessed 19 lead changes and 12 ties, with
WKU's biggest lead coming with 4:41 to play on an AJ Slaughter three-
pointer to make it 55-52. The senior guard, who was named the Sun Belt Conference's Player of the Week earlier in the day following his career-high 30-point performance on Monday night versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee, struggled from the field, shooting 3-of-17, to finish with 11 points.

On three separate occasions in the second half, LSU tried to take
control, leading by four, but each time the Toppers battled back to tie
or retake the lead.

In the first half, the Tigers jumped out to a 10-4 advantage on Harris'
fastbreak flush with 13:42 remaining in the opening stanza, but Kerusch
scored seven of the Tops' points in a 9-0 run to push in front 13-10
with 10:54 on the clock. Aside from Jameson Tipping's three-pointer at
the half-time horn, giving WKU a 31-30 edge at the break, Kerusch
scored 19 of the team's final 23 points of the half.

Cliff Dixon finished with a season-best nine points while freshman
Caden Dickerson contributed 20 minutes off the bench, nine of those
coming in the first half as Slaughter picked up his second foul with
14:56 to play and had to sit the rest of the half. Dickerson scored
two points, grabbed five boards, and dished out two assists.

Storm Warren recorded a double double for LSU with 20 points and 11
rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting. The Tigers shot 47.1 percent from the
field (24-of-51) and out-rebounded the Hilltoppers 40-31. WKU shot
34.9 percent (22-of-63) but did force two more turnovers than they
committed.

Tickets for next week's NIT games at Diddle Arena will go on sale at
10:00 AM on Wednesday morning. Prices are $16 for Red Towel and
Chairback seats, $12 for Reserved Bleachers, and $4 for students. All
season ticket holders will have until Friday at 5:00 PM to renew the
same seats they currently have for the season. Tickets will be sold as
books only for both days. Single session will only be sold on Monday
and Tuesday of next week.