BATON ROUGE, La. (Interstat) — LSU built a commanding 50-36 halftime lead and withstood a second-half push to defeat Southeastern Louisiana 78-65 in a men’s nonconference basketball game Friday night at Maravich Assembly Center.

Marquel Sutton scored 19 points and Michael Nwoko added 18 for the Tigers, who improved to 10-1. The Lions, led by Makhi Myles and Peter Hemschemeier with 15 points each, fell to 4-8. LSU’s early 14-point cushion proved insurmountable despite Southeastern Louisiana closing the gap to two points midway through the second half. Attendance was 7,479.