Thornton, No. 8-Seed Tigers Survive Butler, 75-71

Per LSUsports.net: Marcus Thornton scored 30 points to lead the eighth-seeded LSU men's basketball team to a 75-71 win over No. 9-seed Butler in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

The Tigers (27-7) led by as many as 13 in the first half before Horizon League Player of the Year Matt Howard helped the Butler Bulldogs (26-6) erase the deficit less than five minutes into the second half.

LSU will face the the South Region's top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels (29-4) on Saturday at 4:45pm CT. Click here for complete story

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