Simmons' big night not enough as LSU suffers upset to Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Canyon Barry had 19 points and Charleston used a big first-half charge to hand LSU its third consecutive loss, 70-58, on Monday night.

The Tigers (3-3) were looking for a soft place to recover after falling to Marquette and NC State last week. The Cougars (4-2) proved they were not about to concede anything to LSU's dynamic freshman tandem of Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney.

Barry scored 12 of his points in the opening half as Charleston pulled in front 41-17 on Payton Hulsey's foul shots to start the second half.

LSU sliced things to 63-56 on Jalyn Patterson's 3-pointer with 1:08 to play. That was as close as the Tigers could get.

Simmons led LSU with 15 points and 18 rebounds, his fourth double-double in six college games. Blakeney missed all nine of his shots, the team's leading scorer ending with one point.