March 20th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The 8th-seeded LSU Tigers. to their credit, have been to the Final Four recently. Meanwhile, the 9th-seeded Butler Bulldogs – while somewhat regular visitors to the big dance – haven’t quite been that far along in the tournament but are capable of an upset at any given time.
They nearly pulled it off on the first round game both teams played Thursday at Greensboro, NC, but Marcus Thornton’s 30 points – including some key baskets late in the game – helped LSU stave off Butler 75-71.
LSU center Chris Johnson would get into foul trouble and Butler would slowly climb back into the game with Willie Veasley’s alley-oopdunk with 15 minutes left in the game, capping a 9-point run, which brought Butler to within 42-41.
Zach Hahn tied the game at 58-all for the Bulldogs with a free throw at the 5:15 mark of the second half; however, the Tigers’ Terry Martin put in a putbackof a missed 3-pointer 15 seconds later and Thornton drained a 3-pointer with 4:08 left, giving LSU a bit of breathing room. The Tigers’ defense held the Bulldogs at bay until the wild final minute, which saw the Tigers fend off Butler’s late rally.
LSU’s high scorer was Thornton with 30 points (including three 3-pointers), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals while Tasmin Mitchell added 14 with7 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block; Johnson scored 12 with 6 rebounds, a steal and 4 blocks.
Butler was led by Matt Howard with 8 rebounds, an assist and a steal while Shelvin Mack added 18 (including 3 treys) with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals; Gordon Hayward pitched in 12 (including four 3-pointers) with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. LSU will advance to Saturday’s game against #1 seed North Carolina.
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