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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- It was supposed to be a battle between the Southeastern Conference's top two players, but a little known freshman stepped in and stole their thunder.
Collis Temple III scored a season-high 20 points Friday to lead LSU (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 10 AP) to a 71-60 victory over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Temple, the son of former LSU standout Collis Temple Jr., made six of seven 3-pointers to pace the Tigers and overshadow the anticipated battle between Vanderbilt's Dan Langhi and LSU's Stromile Swift, the SEC's co-players of the year.
"I didn't plan on him getting 20 points today and I don't think he planned to either," LSU coach John Brady said. "The old bell just strikes for you sometimes and it rang for him today."
Temple, who played a career-high 19 minutes, wouldn't have had the chance to step up if not for Swift's off night. Swift, who averaged 16.5 points and helped LSU win a share of the SEC title, finished with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
The opened the door for Temple to take eight solid shots at the basket, making seven of them. He matched his previous high of 11 points with a a 3-pointer at the 11:05 mark of the second half that gave LSU a 44-30 lead.
"They were giving me wide open shots and Coach knows I am not going to pass many of those up," Temple said. "Every time I let it go, I thought it was going in."
LSU (26-4) advanced to play the winner of a game between Arkansas and No. 16 Kentucky in Saturday's semifinals. Vanderbilt (19-10) must hope its record will be good enough for the NCAA tournament.
"None of us are on the committee so we'll still be waiting and worrying until we see our name Sunday night," said Atiba Prater, who led Vanderbilt with 16 points. "But we've proven ourselves in the conference all year long and we knocked off some pretty tough teams, so I think we deserve to go."
Vanderbilt won the only other meeting between the two teams this year, 65-62 in January.
So much of the attention Friday was on the rematch between Langhi and Swift, who both had disappointing days.
Langhi, whose average of 22.6 points made him the first Vanderbilt player to lead the league in scoring in 25 years, scored just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
"I just missed shots," Langhi said. "I think I missed two or three two-foot shots and I don't remember the last time I did that."
Without Langhi producing, the Commodores had few other options to turn to. The Commodores shot a dismal 32 percent and missed their first 16 shots. They finally scored on Prater's put back with 10:40 to play in the first half. The second half started just as slowly for Vanderbilt, which missed seven of its first eight shots.
"Some of us were getting good looks but we couldn't knock down the shots," Langhi said. "You are going to have days like that, but I've never seen it to that extent."
LSU eventually led by 16, but Vanderbilt closed within 65-60 when Prater scored eight straight points and Sam Howard hit a 3 with 1:13 to play.
After an LSU turnover, Howard missed a long 3, Swift got the rebound and was fouled. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Langhi tried to convert but turned the ball over when Swift stripped him along the baseline.
Lamont Roland finished with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for LSU. Jabari Smith added 10 points.
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Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Vanderbilt Clubhouse
LSU Clubhouse
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