Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. - -Belmont University men's basketball dropped an 83-53 decision at [rv/rv] LSU Monday from Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
After defeating Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Vanderbilt in recent years, the Bruins endured a cold shooting night as LSU was able to turn defensive stops into scoring opportunities.
Trailing 36-23 at halftime, Belmont had a purposeful start to the second half and appeared on the verge of working back into the game. But empty offensive trips and missed clean looks halted momentum
A Brandon Murray 3-pointer pushed the margin to 39-23 with 18:47 remaining and the hosts rode balanced scoring from there.
Will Richard led Belmont with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Ben Sheppard had 14 points and three assists.
The duo also held LSU leading scorer Darius Days to 1-of-6 shooting.
Tari Eason led LSU (5-0) with 17 points.
Belmont (3-2) returns to game action Thursday vs. Drake in the ESPN Events Invitational.
The Bruins have won 20 conference championships since 2006 - third-most nationally over that span (Gonzaga, Kansas). Belmont is one of only six NCAA Division I programs outside the Power 5 to post Top 100 rankings 11 consecutive seasons (BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's (CA), San Diego State, Wichita State). Belmont is one of only four NCAA Division I programs to win 19 or more games 16 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas, San Diego State). Belmont University men's basketball boasts an NCAA-leading 18 CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2001 and is the only NCAA Division I program to make the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Honor Roll every year of existence
