ST. THOMAS, VI- - Junior guard Trey Freeman (Virginia Beach, VA.) scored 25 points and senior Richard Ross (Wichita Falls, TX.) added 10 points to lead the Monarchs of Old Dominion (3-0) to a 70-61 victory over LSU (2-1) Friday night in the first round of the Paradise Jam Tournament at the University of the Virgin Islands. This was a Tiger team that was receiving votes in the national polls and picked to finish fourth in the SEC.
The Monarchs will be off on Saturday and play Illinois State, a 73-64 winner over Weber State on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS Sports network. The contest can be seen locally on COX 216, 221 on Direct TV, 158 on DISH and 94 on Verizon FIOS.
This was the Monarchs first win over an SEC school since 1996-97 when ODU defeated Mississippi State in Puerto Rico, 72-71 in overtime.
"It's big to get the first one, but we came here to win three," said ODU head coach Jeff Jones." "We ddn't get down on ourselves when LSU went up early on us. The team worked extremely hard, and we battled."
LSU jumped out to a 12-point lead, 15-3 with 13:34 left in the first half after a layup by Josh Gray. But with the scored 28-17 with 6:59 left, the Monarchs went on a 12-0 run capped by a jumper by Freeman to put ODU ahead, 29-28 with 3:45 left in the half. Freeman and sophomore Ambrose Mosley (Jacksonville, FL.) each hit a trey in that stretch.
LSU's Darcy Malone hit a jumper with 3:19 left and LSU retook the lead, 30-29, before Keenan Palmore (Stone Mountain, GA.) and Freeman closed out the half with baskets to give the Monarchs a 33-30 halftime lead.
In the second half, ODU went by as much as 10, 40-30 with 16:45 left on a Freeman basket and 50-40 with 11:29 left in the game after a Palmore layup, but LSU rallied and tied the game with 5:01 left at 55-55 on a free throw by Josh Gray.
Trey Freeman put the Monarchs up for good with a jumper in the lane, then graduate student Jonathan Arledge (Silver Spring, MD.) dunked a missed shot and followed it later with a jumper for a 63-60 ODU lead with 3:09 left. The Tigers would score just one more point the rest of the game while junior Nick Biberaj nailed a three-pointer and the Monarchs finished the game with five free throws.
ODU shot .426 (26-61) from the floor, while LSU shot .392(20-51). ODU hit .500 (7-14) from beyond the arc. LSU shot .313 (5-16). The Tigers edged ODU in rebounding, 40-38, but the Monarchs defense forced LSU into 16 turnovers while ODU only committed nine.
Jonathan Arledge grabbed a career high 12 rebounds along with seven points on the night for the Monarchs. Keenan Palmore added nine points, while Ambrose Mosley and Nik Biberaj scored eight points each.
LSU was led in scoring by Jarrell Martin with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Keith Hornsby, son of singer/musician Bruce Hornsby with 15.