LSU shook off a slow start to get past North Carolina Central 70-66 in a non-conference game Tuesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

The Tigers (6-2), who returned from a 14-day layoff for final exams, host Texas Southern on Saturday. The Eagles (6-5) visit McNeese State on Saturday.

Antonio Blakeney led the second-half surge and finished with a game-high 27 points, Duop Reath scored 14 and Brandon Sampson had 13.

Patrick Cole led North Carolina Central with 19 points, Dajuan Graf scored 18 and Will Ransom had 10 points off the bench.

The Eagles led by seven points at halftime, but Blakeney led an LSU charge to start the second half.

He made a jumper to start the second-half scoring, then during a span of slightly more than four minutes made three 3-pointers, the last of which edged the Tigers in front 53-52.

The lead changed hands four times before a 3-pointer by Sampson and a free throw by Blakeney extended LSU's lead to five.

Graf made a 3-pointer and Ransom scored four points as the Eagles pulled even at 65 with 4:25 left.

Blakeney broke the tie by making a layup and he made a jumper to push the lead to three.

North Carolina Central missed four 3-pointers in attempts to tie, then turned the ball over with 10 seconds left. Sampson made a free-throw to complete scoring.

Graf scored nine points and the Eagles shot 79 percent from the floor as they built a 27-14 lead in the first half.

North Carolina Central cooled off, going more than four minutes without scoring, but LSU couldn't trim the deficit significantly. When Dickerson ended the scoring drought with a layup, he gave the Eagles a 29-20 lead.

The lead grew to 13 before the Tigers heated up. Sampson and Blakeney scored five points apiece as LSU reduced the Eagles lead to 43-36 at halftime.