20 Lead Changes End With LSU Upset of Georgetown (Pettit Over Iverson)

A record 20 lead changes in a Value Add Basketball Game between Georgetown 1995 and LSU 1953 ended in the first elimination of one of the six great player teams that received a bye. Eight first half turnovers by Georgetown helped LSU go to the break with a 33-29 lead, but once the Hoyas rallied for a 36-35 lead with 28 possessions (16:51) to play, the game went back and forth until two huge offensive rebounds by Bob Pettit put the Tigers ahead for good.

Pettit averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds in his LSU career and almost the same in a decade in the NBA. He was NBA Rookie if the year, and⁹9 then the next 9 years was in the top 6 of MVP voting every year - winning the award twice. So his 28 points and 11 rebound in this game was just another day at the office.

LSU, the 11-seed in our tournament, missed  shot trailing 65-64 with 6 possessions (3.21) left to play. However, Pettit grabbed the offensive rebound and dished to fellow dominant rebounder Ned Clark, who was fouled. Clark hit the first free throw to tie the game, and when he missed the second shot Pettit grabbed the offensive rebound again (on free throws the offense grabs the rebound less than 20 percent of the time compared to almost 40% on a missed field goal) and put it in to make it 67-65.

The Hoyas last chance was with 3 possessions (1:30) to play when Allen Iverson came up with his sixth steal trailing 71-67, but could not convert at the other end and Pettit's next basket made it 73-67. Iverson's final dunk at the end of the game simply tightened the final score. Below is the box score, updated bracket with LSU advancing to the Elite 8 of the new Great Players tournament, and the scoresheet to show the flow of the game with the 20 lead changes though only 6 tied scores as the teams normally traded 1-point leads. 

LSU did make the 1953 Final 4 and Georgetown just the Sweet 16, but the Hoyas cards appear several points better after facing tougher competition in their season and having two road wins against top 20 teams (Villanova and Syracuse). 

With four of the five top seeds advancing, the last one to play is Bob McAdoo's UNC 1972 team, which will await the winner of the Providence vs. Marshall game. (incorrect box score originally posted, now corrected)

Pos        LSU 1953                   Pts   3pt   2pt   FT   Att   Reb   Stl   Blk   Fl    Season Actual        1-PG Norman Magee 9 2 0 3 6 3 1 1 4 5'11,13.3 ppg 2-SG Benny McArdle 7 1 2 0 0 1 2 1 2 5'10,8.1 ppg 3-SF Don Belcher 6 0 1 4 4 7 0 2 3 6'2,12.7 ppg 4-PF Bob Pettit 28 4 8 0 0 11 1 0 1 6'9,31st best ever 5-C Ned Clark 9 0 4 1 2 8 0 2 2 6'5,9.7 ppg 1-PG Kenny Bridges 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 5'11,1.7 ppg 2-SG Leslie Jones 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 6'2,2.5 ppg 3-SF Don Sebastian 4 0 1 2 2 1 0 0 1 5'10,3.2 ppg 4-PF Bob Freshley 6 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 1 6'6, 2.1 ppg   15 Turnovers 73 7 21 10 14 36 0 6 17                           Pos Georgetown 1995 Pts 3pt 2pt FT Att Reb Stl Blk Fl Season Actual 1-PG Allen Iverson 29 1 11 4 6 4 6 0 3 6'0, 40th best ever 2-SG George Butler 7 1 1 2 2 3 2 0 2 6'2, 11.2 ppg 3-SF Don Reid 4 0 2 0 0 3 0 1 3 6'8, 7.2 ppg 4-PF Jerome Williams 4 0 2 0 0 6 0 0 1 6'9, 10.9 ppg 5-C Othella Harrington 12 0 5 2 2 7 0 5 3 6'9, 12.2 ppg 1-PG Eric Myles 2 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 5'10, 5.3 ppg 2-SG Irvin Church 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 6'1, 3.4 ppg 3-SF John Jacques 5 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 2 6'3, 5.9 ppg 4-PF Boubacar Aw 2 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 6'7, 4.0 ppg 5-C Jahidi White 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 6'9, 2.3 ppg     69 3 26 8 12 32 9 7 18