LSU-S Pilots Win Home Finale, To Be #2 Seed In Conference Tournament

Before the game, LSU-Shreveport Athletic Director Chad McDowell brought in young Joshua Black to inspire the Pilots before the last home game of the season.

Black, a 14 year-old student from Youree Drive Middle School suffers from Sickle Cell Anemia and was honored at halftime for being Louisiana's Ambassador for Children's Miracle Network.

Kyle Blankenship spoke on what's coming up for the Pilots in the postseason:

The Pilots (22-6, 17-5 Red River Athletic Conference) were in quite a hole early in the contest to conference leader and champion SAGU Lions.

With Monday night's victory, the Pilots will play against Wiley College Friday at noon in Fort Worth, Texas.

LSU-S trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, with many of the Pilots shooters being cold. Rodney Milum was only 2-for-13 from downtown in this game.

The Pilots rallied up until halftime, where they went into the locker room trailing by only one point 34-33.

But, after another inspiring speech, this time from head coach Kyle Blankenship at halftime, the Pilots were able to make many key shots.

Brandon Davis turned things up in the second half, as he collected his 13th double-double of the season. Davis finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Milum also turned his fortunes around, as he finished with 22 points with 14 of those coming from the free throw line. Overall, the Pilots shot 83% from the charity stripe.

Mark Politte finished with 14, and Rydell Harris led the Pilots in rebounding with 13.

Tevin Hall led the way off the bench with his 13 points, the entire Pilots bench was responsible for 68 of the points on the scoreboard.

The regular season RRAC champs, SAGU (26-4, 19-3 RRAC) were led by Dominique Rambo who had 21 points. Johnathan Walter had 19, and Caleb Gentry had 10.

This was a special night for the Pilots as well as the standing room only crowd inside The Dock, as Joshua Black was honored at halftime for being named as Louisiana's official Ambassador for the Children's Miracle Network.

Black is also in the running to win an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida and Washington D.C. to speak about Children's Healthcare.

[via LSUS]