y play host to Virginia-Wise.Auburn: The Tigers pick up a win in their only home game in nearly a month, and bounce back

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Antonio Blakeney scored 23 points as LSU pulled away in the second half for an 84-65 non-conference victory over Houston on Tuesday.Blakeney, whose fast-break layup with one second remaining gave the Tigers a 39-38 halftime advantage and led an 8-0 run which enabled LSU (5-2) to take control of the game early in the second half. Blakeney made two baskets, one a 3-pointer, as the Tigers went ahead 53-42 with 15:50 to play. Houston (5-1) did not trail by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.Blakeney scored 14 points, hitting a season-high 10 field goals, and grabbed five of his eight rebounds in the second half.In the second half, we did a great job executing offensively, LSU coach Johnny Jones said. On the defensive end, we were getting stops. As the game continued, our guys did a tremendous job competing at a high level against one of the better teams we will face prior to conference.LSU shot 50 percent from the field (36-of-72), including 44 percent on 3-pointers (8-of-18). But, the difference in the game was on the backboards, where the Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 46-28. LSU turned 20 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points.Winning the war on the boards and getting second-chance points was a focus, Blakeney said. Thats why coach (Jones) started sending me to the glass.Craig (Victor) and all the bigs were trying to get rebounds because we got beat on the boards in the Bahamas. We were just trying to correct our mistakes.Three LSU players besides Blakeney scored in double figures. Brandon Sampson had 16 points, all but two in the first half. Victor had 13 points and nine rebounds in his first start of the year. Aaron Epps, who was replaced by Victor in the lineup, had 11 points and seven rebounds.Rob Gray was the top scorer for Houston with 19 points. Damyean Dotson added 13 points, while Devin Davis had 12. The Cougars were badly beaten inside as they were outscored 46-26 in the paint.We didnt play very well at all in any area in the first half, but we had a chance to get the lead, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. I didnt see a lot of pop tonight. Their size was a factor. We had three starters who did not get a defensive rebound. We have to be a rebounding team.BIG PICTURELSU: The Tigers, who lost two of three games last week at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, remained unbeaten at home with their fourth straight victory. LSU, which blocked nine shots and made seven steals, lost 105-98 in overtime at Houston last season.HOUSTON: The Cougars failed in their attempt to open a season 6-0 for just the fourth time in school history. Houston was badly beaten in its first true road game of the season.HUGE STAT NIGHTSLSUs Craig Victor was suspended from the team for the first three games of the season. Victor, a returning starter, came off the bench for all of the Tigers games in the Bahamas. Victor provided a spark in his first start -- not only with his 13 points and nine rebounds, but also with a career-high four steals. Meanwhile, freshman point guard Skylar Mays came off the bench to hand out 11 assists -- the most for a LSU player in Johnny Jones five seasons as coach.WHERE DID THE OFFENSE GOHouston was no match inside for LSU, but the Cougars also struggled mightily with their shooting. Coming into Tuesdays game, Houston was shooting 51 percent from the field, including 46 percent on 3-pointers. The Tigers held the Cougars to 40 percent from the field (21-of-52), including 29 percent on 3-pointers (5-of-17). Houston made just eight field goals in the second half.KEEPING LSU ALIVEThe Tigers never trailed by more than four points in the first half. Brandon Sampson was the player responsible for keeping LSU within striking distance of Houston. Sampson made five of his seven field goal attempts in the first half, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. Sampson made two of his 3-pointers in a 90-second stretch late in the first half when the Cougars had built leads of three and four points.UP NEXTLSU: The Tigers will take a two-week break for semester exams before returning for a home game against North Carolina Central on Dec. 13.HOUSTON: The Cougars play host to Prairie View on Saturday.Alex Avila Diamondbacks Jersey . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Matt Szczur Diamondbacks Jersey . 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But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days.AUBURN, Ala. -- Mustapha Heron scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds, LaRon Smith added 15 points and five rebounds, and Auburn powered past South Carolina-Upstate 90-83 on Tuesday night.The Tigers shot 45 percent from the field compared with SC Upstates 42 percent, but Auburn connected on just 22 percent of its 32 shots from beyond the arc. Auburn never trailed, but the Tigers made it interesting before pulling out their fifth win of the year.Were not playing as well as what we should be playing at this point, said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. ... I just dont think we had the effort and the energy and the tenacity to finish plays. And thats why they came back. I mean we scored 48 points in the second half, against a team we were obviously physically superior to, but we did not play with effort and energy on the defensive end.The Tigers (5-1) led early and weathered a Spartan run before halftime to bounce back following their first loss last Wednesday to No. 17 Purdue.Heron, a freshman, continued his streak of reaching double digits in each game hes played in his college career. He had 12 points at halftime to help Auburn stave off the Spartans, who used a 13-0 run to get within five points before the Tigers pulled away for a 42-32 halftime lead.The Spartans (3-4) trailed by as many as 18, but pulled to within five points a few times down the stretch. They utilized the size of 7-foot center Michael Buchanan to their advantage. Buchanan poured in 20 points against the smaller Auburn front line -- Smith and Horace Spencer, both 6-foot-8, the tallest players Auburns roster.SC Upstate outrebounded the Tigers 52-41, but had just 122 second-chance points compared with Auburns 19.ddddddddddddWe have kids with character that keep fighting, said USC Upstate coach Eddie Payne. We got a few stops. We had a 10-0 run at one point where we really got out in transition and spaced the floor well, and that happened on I think two separate occasions . from our perspective, we have to play like that on a consistent basis.Auburn forced 15 turnovers, which led to 21 points.Mike Cunningham scored 20 for SC Upstate and Ramel Thompkins added 13 points and eight rebounds.BIG PICTURESouth Carolina Upstate: The Spartans fall below .500, but are in the midst of a season-long seven-game road trip. They wont return home until Dec. 10, when they play host to Virginia-Wise.Auburn: The Tigers pick up a win in their only home game in nearly a month, and bounce back following their first loss, a 25-point drubbing in the Cancun Challenge championship.HOT START FOR HERONHeron came into Tuesdays game averaging 14.6 points per game. He easily topped that with his 23 points against the Spartans, and he just missed tying his career high of 24, which came against Eastern Kentucky.HE SAID ITI think that we see the potential. But Ive always heard, `Potential is the kiss of death. So weve just got to do (it). We know our best basketball is ahead of us. -- Auburn guard Mustapha Heron on his teams potential.UP NEXTUSC Upstate: The Spartans visit Campbell University on Dec. 2 in the Holy City Hoops Classic.Auburn: Heads up north to Birmingham on Dec. 3 to take on UAB. ' ' '