No. 11 Florida uses second-half surge to tame LSU

Baton Rouge, LA – Kenny Boynton tallied 20 points and seven rebounds in No. 11 Florida's 74-52 thumping of LSU.

Patric Young registered 14 points and seven boards, while Erik Murphy provided 12 points and seven rebounds for the Gators (12-2, 2-0 SEC), who have won four straight games.

"For these guys to come in here against a good LSU team and find a way to win, I think is impressive because when you look at their team, they've had a history here of being a really good comeback team," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "They did it against Seton Hall here and won down 16. They were down by 21 at Marquette and tied the game. This has been a pattern for their team, and I felt even when we got up they were going to make a run at us."

Anthony Hickey netted 15 points to lead LSU (9-4, 0-2), which dropped back-to- back contests for the first time all season.

The Tigers shot just 32.3 percent (21-of-65) from the floor.

"I think we are a team that understands that we have a lot of room for growth," LSU coach Johnny Jones said. "We feel that the things that happened and transpired today we can fix. We have guys that can continue to improve and areas that we can continue to get better at. We can execute better on the offensive end. We can do a better job of making sure we strike and rebound the ball better."

The Gators led 29-20 at intermission and began the second half on a 21-5 run to seize control. Boynton nailed a pair of 3-pointers and recorded eight points overall during the surge, which gave Florida a 50-25 advantage with 12:31 remaining.

The margin peaked at 32 down the stretch.

Earlier, the contest was tied at 19-19 before the visitors closed the opening period on a 10-1 sprint to take their nine-point cushion into the break.

Game Notes

LSU fell to 8-1 at home this year ... Shavon Coleman poured in 11 points for the Tigers ... Florida shot 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the field ... LSU turned the ball over just seven times.