Luke Fischer led four players in double figures with 19 points for Marquette (2-2).
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Marquette pushed its advantage back to nine, 75-66, on a three-pointer by Ellenson but the Tigers responded with a three pointer and a second-chance layup by Sampson to get within three, 75-72, at the 3:24 mark.
The Golden Eagles will face Arizona State in Tuesday’s championship game after the Sun Devils beat North Carolina State 79-76.
“Marquette did an excellent job of coming out and punching first, getting a 10-point lead right at the beginning of the game, ” LSU coach Johnny Jones said.
LSU freshman Ben Simmons (25) had 21 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists in a loss to Marquette. Johnson finished with 16 points and made the two free throws that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Simmons’ LSU Tigers spent almost the entire game trailing Marquette’s Golden Eagles, but not for his lack of effort.
Simmons’ reverse layup gave the Tigers for about 10 seconds. After a timeout, Jajuan Johnson quickly drew a foul on Gray and sank two cold-blooded throws to restore Marquette’s lead.
Simmons, a 6-foot-10 forward from Australia, shot 6 of 14 and made 9 of 11 free throws as LSU shot 37 percent from the floor. Sampson flung the ball back to Simmons, and Johnson got away with going for the steal when Simmons, for some reason, whipped the ball to Jalyn Patterson, whose 28-footer came up way short. “I let (Fischer and Ellenson) score too much”.
His team may have been beaten by one point, but Australian basketball sensation Ben Simmons has shown why he is tipped to be the No. 1 NBA draft pick for next year, playing a blinder in the NCAA college competition. I trust him a lot; he hit the game-winning shot for a national championship when we were at Montverde (in high school). “As a team we can not ask him to put up these kinds of numbers night in and night out”.
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Also, Simmons was the fifth top 10 recruit to have a 20-15 game in the first three games of their careers joining Michael Beasley, Kansas State (2007-08); DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky (2009-10); Julius Randle, Kentucky (2013-14) and, one of Simmons’ opponents tonight, Henry Ellison of Marquette, who had 21-16 in the game with Belmont to open the 2015-16 season. “We need to carry the weight across the board”.
