TAMPA, Fla. — Despite being down by as much as 25 in the first half, the University of Missouri men's basketball team fought all the way back to bring the game within striking distance, but could not finish in the final minutes of the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Thursday afternoon. The Tigers ultimately dropped the contest, 76-68.

"I thought we did a great job finishing the game. Came out much better in the second half," said head coach Cuonzo Martin. "We attacked the press, made plays. Was very assertive moving the ball, so that part was fun to see. But we got off to a slow start. Credit to those guys."

DaJuan Gordon lead all scorers with a career-high 19 points on a personal-best four three-pointers. Trevon Brazile and Javon Pickett joined him in double-digits with 15 and 14, respectively. The 15 points were also a career-high for Brazile, as he recorded his second double-digit game against an SEC opponent. Brazile also had a game-high eight rebounds and led Mizzou with a pair of steals and two blocks.

TURNING POINT
Mizzou came out of halftime with a strong 7-2 run to cut the deficit to single digits, 41-30, before LSU fired right back and held a 15-point lead for most of the period. Mizzou made 10-straight field goals in the closing minutes of the game, cutting within striking distance, 76-68, on a trap steal and layup by Amari Davis, but did not have the final answer.

GAME NOTES

• Brazile finished the season with 48 blocks, the fourth-most by any Mizzou freshman behind Arthur Johnson, Johnathan Williams III and Jontay Porter.
• His 48 blocks across 25 games average to 1.9 blocks per game, tied for the third best single-season mark in program history.
• Thursday was a rare loss for Mizzou this season when outrebounding its opponent as they were previously 12-2 on the season when doing so. The Tigers beat LSU 32-24 on the glass.
• Brazile recorded eight or more rebounds in the final four games of the season.

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