BATON ROUGE, La. | The Grambling State University men's basketball team could not survive two huge runs by LSU in a 78-57 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
 
LSU opened the game on a 14-2 run and took a 35-25 advantage into the break. LSU began the second half on an 11-2 run and pushed the margin to as many as 21 points in extending its home winning streak to 13 games.
 
Anthony Gaston scored seven of his team-high 12 points in the first half to pace the Grambling State offense. Lasani Johnson added nine points, three rebounds and two steals, while Travon Bunch chipped in eight points, two blocks and two boards.
 
Tremont Waters led LSU with a game-high 15 points, on 6-of-8 shooting, along with five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Darius Days tallied 13 points, nine boards, three steals and one assist, while Skylar Mays registered 10 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal. Kavell Bigby-Williams finished with nine points, a game-high nine blocks and five rebounds.
 
Turning Point
LSU (6-2) opened the game with a 14-2 run, capped by a fastbreak layup by Ja'vonte Smart with 16:11 remaining in the first half.
 
Grambling State (3-4) answered with seven straight points as Anthony Gaston's fastbreak layup forced LSU to call a timeout with 14:01 left as GSU trimmed the double-digit deficit to 14-9.
 
LSU stretched the lead to 19-9 after a dunk by Marlon Taylor with 11:14 left, but Grambling State refused to go away quietly and cut the margin to 27-21 after a layup by Dallas Polk-Hilliard with 6:47 remaining.
 
However, LSU continued to push the advantage to double-digits and grabbed a 31-21 lead after a 3-pointer by Smart with just over five minutes left in the first half.
 
Grambling State could not get much going offensively over the final three-and-half minutes and went the 3:12 without a bucket from the floor as LSU took a 35-25 lead into the half.
 
LSU put the game away early in the second half with an 11-2 run, capped by a Kavell Bigby-Williams dunk, to extend the lead to 46-27.
 
Grambling State never got any closer than 15 points during the final 16 minutes.
 
Inside the Numbers
> Grambling State shot 39.2 percent (20-of-51) from the floor and 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the charity stripe
> LSU was 27-of-59 (45.8 percent) from the field and 14-of-24 (62.5 percent) from the foul line
> The Tigers registered 24 rebounds, including 19 on the defensive glass
> LSU pulled down 45 rebounds, with 29 coming on the defensive end
> Grambling State finished with 28 points in the paint, 26 bench points, 16 points off 19 LSU turnovers, four second-chance points and two fast-break points
> LSU recorded 36 points in the paint, 22 bench points, 17 points off 18 Grambling State turnovers, 12 second-chance points and six fast-break points.
 
News and Notes
> Grambling State fell to 0-4 all-time in the series against LSU, which began in 2000
> Grambling State averaged 38.3 points in the three previous meetings against LSU prior to Saturday's contest
> GSU scored 57 points, the most of any Grambling State team against LSU in the series history
> LSU ran its home-court win streak to 12 games with the win over GSU
> The matchup against LSU was the first against an SEC opponent since Dec. 11, 2012 (Auburn defeated GSU, 92-42)
> Grambling State dropped to 0-6 against SEC opponents since 2010, including two losses to LSU
> GSU has surrendered the first bucket in three out of the four losses this season
> Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Grambling State's victory over Georgia Tech
 
Up Next
Grambling State concluded its three-game road swing at LSU on Saturday and will return home Tuesday to take on Centenary (La.). Tip-off against the Gents is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
 
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