GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Interim LSU coach Butch Pierre won't soon forget his first collegiate victory. Pierre's struggling Tigers led from start to finish in an 85-73 win at Florida, spoiling coach Billy Donovan's bid for his 10th consecutive 20-win season. And Pierre did it in the Gator lair, leading from start to finish with a team that he just took over a week ago and had won only once in its last 11 games. "It's been a long time coming," said the 45-year-old Pierre, who has spent 22 seasons as an assistant. "We needed a win, but it just didn't happen," said Pierre, whose broad smile grew even wider when he was reminded that win No. 1 was over Donovan, who has coached Florida to the last two national titles. "We made plays because they're capable. We've got talent out there." LSU (9-14, 2-7 Southeastern Conference) put Pierre in charge after it fired coach John Brady last week. "LSU's hardened, they're scarred, they calloused," Donovan said. "We have none of that. We have baby skin right now." Anthony Randolph scored 22 points, Marcus Thornton added 20 and Chris Johnson 19 for the Tigers, who shot 60 percent. "It's all about defense and we just didn't deliver tonight," said Florida's Nick Calathes, who led the Gators with 16 points. Florida (19-6, 6-4 SEC) got 13 points and nine rebounds from Dan Werner and 11 points and eight rebounds from Marreese Speights. LSU, which shot 56.7 in the first half, jumped to a 20-6 lead on its way to a 41-33 halftime advantage. Florida closed to within four points at 55-51 on Marreese Speights' dunk with 9:49 left, but Thornton ignited a 9-0 2-minute run with a 3-point basket that boosted LSU into a 64-51 lead and control of the game. The Tigers twice led by 15 in the final minutes. "We went through so much this year growing up as a team," said Randolph, a 6-10 freshman from Dallas. "We think it's obvious we should win some games." Randolph hit 10 of 16 shots while Johnson and Thornton each made 8 of 11 tries. Florida will now try for win No. 20 Saturday at Vanderbilt while LSU returns home to host Kentucky on Saturday. Link To Original Article
