BATON ROUGE, La. -- Antonio Blakeney scored 23 points as LSU pulled away in the second half for an 84-65 non-conference victory over Houston on Tuesday.Blakeney, whose fast-break layup with one second remaining gave the Tigers a 39-38 halftime advantage and led an 8-0 run which enabled LSU (5-2) to take control of the game early in the second half. Blakeney made two baskets, one a 3-pointer, as the Tigers went ahead 53-42 with 15:50 to play. Houston (5-1) did not trail by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.Blakeney scored 14 points, hitting a season-high 10 field goals, and grabbed five of his eight rebounds in the second half.In the second half, we did a great job executing offensively, LSU coach Johnny Jones said. On the defensive end, we were getting stops. As the game continued, our guys did a tremendous job competing at a high level against one of the better teams we will face prior to conference.LSU shot 50 percent from the field (36-of-72), including 44 percent on 3-pointers (8-of-18). But, the difference in the game was on the backboards, where the Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 46-28. LSU turned 20 offensive rebounds into 23 second-chance points.Winning the war on the boards and getting second-chance points was a focus, Blakeney said. Thats why coach (Jones) started sending me to the glass.Craig (Victor) and all the bigs were trying to get rebounds because we got beat on the boards in the Bahamas. We were just trying to correct our mistakes.Three LSU players besides Blakeney scored in double figures. Brandon Sampson had 16 points, all but two in the first half. Victor had 13 points and nine rebounds in his first start of the year. Aaron Epps, who was replaced by Victor in the lineup, had 11 points and seven rebounds.Rob Gray was the top scorer for Houston with 19 points. Damyean Dotson added 13 points, while Devin Davis had 12. The Cougars were badly beaten inside as they were outscored 46-26 in the paint.We didnt play very well at all in any area in the first half, but we had a chance to get the lead, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. I didnt see a lot of pop tonight. Their size was a factor. We had three starters who did not get a defensive rebound. We have to be a rebounding team.BIG PICTURELSU: The Tigers, who lost two of three games last week at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, remained unbeaten at home with their fourth straight victory. LSU, which blocked nine shots and made seven steals, lost 105-98 in overtime at Houston last season.HOUSTON: The Cougars failed in their attempt to open a season 6-0 for just the fourth time in school history. Houston was badly beaten in its first true road game of the season.HUGE STAT NIGHTSLSUs Craig Victor was suspended from the team for the first three games of the season. Victor, a returning starter, came off the bench for all of the Tigers games in the Bahamas. Victor provided a spark in his first start -- not only with his 13 points and nine rebounds, but also with a career-high four steals. Meanwhile, freshman point guard Skylar Mays came off the bench to hand out 11 assists -- the most for a LSU player in Johnny Jones five seasons as coach.WHERE DID THE OFFENSE GOHouston was no match inside for LSU, but the Cougars also struggled mightily with their shooting. Coming into Tuesdays game, Houston was shooting 51 percent from the field, including 46 percent on 3-pointers. The Tigers held the Cougars to 40 percent from the field (21-of-52), including 29 percent on 3-pointers (5-of-17). Houston made just eight field goals in the second half.KEEPING LSU ALIVEThe Tigers never trailed by more than four points in the first half. Brandon Sampson was the player responsible for keeping LSU within striking distance of Houston. Sampson made five of his seven field goal attempts in the first half, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. Sampson made two of his 3-pointers in a 90-second stretch late in the first half when the Cougars had built leads of three and four points.UP NEXTLSU: The Tigers will take a two-week break for semester exams before returning for a home game against North Carolina Central on Dec. 13.HOUSTON: The Cougars play host to Prairie View on Saturday. Discount Nike Shoes Online . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Cheap Nike Shoes Online Free Shipping .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. http://www.discountnikeshoes.com/ . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Cheap Nike Shoes China Wholesale . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Discount Nike Shoes China . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff.Australia earned a hard-fought three-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Bangalore to win their first game of the 2016 World T20. Usman Khawaja (58 off 45 balls) starred with the bat as Australia chased down a tricky target of 157 set by Bangladesh with nine balls to spare, overcoming a dramatic late batting collapse.Leg-spinner Adam Zampa took 3-23 for Australia after they won the toss and chose to bowl first, but Mahmudullah hit an unbeaten 49 from 29 balls to help Bangladesh post a competitive total of 156-5.Australia looked to be cruising to a comfortable win as Khawaja - included at the expense of Aaron Finch for the second straight game - hit a maiden T20I fifty.But Australia lost six wickets for 57, with Shakib Al Hasan taking 3-27 and Sussex-bound left-arm-seamer Mustafizur Rahman 2-30, before James Faulkner finally hit the winning runs in the 19th over. Shakib Al Hasan (right) excelled with bat and ball for Bangladesh Without the in-form Tamim Iqbal at the top of the order due to illness, Bangladesh limped to 10-1 after three overs of their innings, with Shane Watson (2-31) taking the wicket of Soumya Sarkar in the second over.Sabbir Rahman (12) finally struck the first boundary for the Tigers in the fourth, one of two in the same John Hastings over - brought into the Australian side in place of Ashton Agar. But Rahman became Watsons second victim soon after, caught at mid-on, bringing Shakib (33 off 25) to the crease - the all-rounder adding some much-needed impetus to the innings.Zampa dismissed Mohammad Mithun (23) and Shuvagata Hom (13) at the other end, the latter after having been dropped on nought and smashing the spinners previous two deliveries for 10.When Shakib became Zampas third scalp in the 16th over - top-edging to short third man - Bangladesh were limping towards the finish at 105-5, before Mahmudullahs late blast.He and Mushfiqur Rahim (15no off 11) hit 15 off James Faulkners 18th over and 17 off Watsons 19th, particularly cashing in on anything wide and sending it crashing to the third man boundary as they helped their side to a useeful score.dddddddddddd Khawaja did damage early on against the Bangladesh attack Khawaja, who starred in Australias Test summer and during the Big Bash League for eventual champions, Sydney Thunder, took apart the Bangladesh attack early on.The left-handed opener struck seven fours - including three-straight off Shakib in the fifth over - and one six, off just the fourth ball of the innings.Watson (21 off 15) was more sedate at the other end, striking just the two fours and one six in their 61-run opening stand before he was run out by Rahman - atoning for a bad drop by Mithun when Watson was on 13. Mohammed Mithun dropped an easy catch when Shane Watson was on 13 Bangladesh continued to fight, with Mustafizur bowling Steve Smith (14), and Khawaja and David Warner (17) falling inside an over of each other.Despite Australia being well up with the required run-rate, the nervy batting continued as Mitchell Marsh and Hastings fell cheaply, either side of the wicket of Glenn Maxwell - who appeared to be taking his side home with a quick-fire 26 off 15. James Faulkner (second right) closed out the victory for Australia Maxwell and Hastings fell in the same Shakib over, with the latter dropped by Al-Amin three balls prior to his ultimate dismissal as Bangladesh let Australia off the hook, Faulkner hitting the winning runs soon after.Watch highlights of Australias win over Bangladesh on Sky Sports 2 from 7pm, then join us for live coverage of New Zealands Group 2 encounter with Pakistan live on Sky Sports 2 from 1.30pm on Tuesday. ' ' '