at the outset before taking four games in a row.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Antonio Blakeney scored 20 points as LSU held off North Florida 78-70 in a non-conference game Friday.The Ospreys, who trailed by 12 points with slightly more than six minutes remaining in the game, reduced their deficit to four over the next two minutes. A basket by Romelo Banks left the Tigers (3-0) ahead 67-63 with 4:11 left.Blakeney then scored six of his 20 points in the last 3 1/2 minutes to enable LSU to pick up the victory. Blakeney made two field goals and a pair of foul shots. Brandon Sampson had a field goal and two free throws in the stretch for the Tigers.This was one of those games where you keep trying to play better as the game goes along, said Blakeney, who scored 26 points in LSUs previous game against Southern Mississippi. You just try to correct the mistakes that you make. I am just happy we got the win.Blakeney was one of four LSU players to score in double figures. Duop Reath had 17 points before fouling out late in the game. Sampson scored 16 points and Aaron Epps added 14.It was a grind game for us in the second half with the way (North Florida) came back, Tigers coach Johnny Jones said. Our guys grinded it out defensively and they executed offensively. Our guys closed out the game well with plays made by Blakeney and several other guys.Four players also scored in double figures for North Florida (1-3). Chris Davenport led the Ospreys with 16 points. Banks, Aaron Bodager and Dallas Moore each had 13 points.North Florida had lost decisively to its first two power conference opponents this season -- Auburn and Miami.Were growing up, North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll said. We didnt let the lead LSU built in the second half demoralize us. We cut it to four points and the guys just kept on fighting. We left so much on the table with 20 turnovers and going 13-for-28 at the free throw line.BIG PICTURELSU: The Tigers were unable to put North Florida away for good until the final minute. LSU saw a nine-point first-half advantage cut to one point at the break. Then, the Tigers lost most of a 12-point lead down the stretch.NORTH FLORIDA: The performance by the Ospreys was quite different from the one two nights earlier against Miami. North Florida scored just 56 points while losing by 38 points to the Hurricanes. The Ospreys outrebounded LSU by ten and shot 44 percent from the field.RUNNING THE SHOWJalyn Patterson played point guard instead of starter Skylar Mays for LSU for most of the game. Patterson only scored one point, but handed out a career-high eight assists and committed just two turnovers in 27 minutes.GROUP EFFORT ON THE BOARDSNorth Florida was able to stay within striking distance of LSU all night because of its work on the boards. It was a team effort for the Ospreys as six players grabbed at least six rebounds. The leader was Romelo Banks, who was credited with nine rebounds.IMPROVED DEFENSELSU coach Johnny Jones has emphasized that his team must play more effectively on the defensive end of the floor this year. North Florida made 44 percent of its field goal attempts -- the highest mark by a Tigers opponent so far this season. LSU has not allowed more than 70 points in any of its first three games. The last time the Tigers had a three-game stretch of not giving up more than 70 points came in the first three games of last season.UP NEXTLSU: The Tigers will play away from home for the first time this season in the Battle 4 Atlantis at Paradise Island, Bahamas. LSU will meet Wichita State in an opening-round game Wednesday.NORTH FLORIDA: The Ospreys will return home to face their second non-Division I opponent of the season. North Florida will take on Florida National on Tuesday. JJ Arcega-Whiteside Jersey .Y. -- Marcell Dareus and the Buffalo Bills defence made life miserable for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. Brian Westbrook Eagles Jersey . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. http://www.theeaglesshoponline.com/Youth-clayton-thorson-eagles-jersey/ . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. Wilbert Montgomery Eagles Jersey . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Herman Edwards Eagles Jersey . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. WASHINGTON -- Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki retired from her second-round match at the Citi Open against Sam Stosur because of an injured left arm.The right-handed Wozniacki said that she felt pain while hitting a two-handed backhand at 5-all in the first set of a match that began Wednesday night and ended just past midnight on Thursday. She was treated by a trainer and wound up winning that set 7-5, but stopped playing after getting broken to trail 4-3 in the second.There was a point where I hit a backhand and I just felt it, and I was like `Oh, its nothing, Wozniacki said. But then I hit another backhand and I was like, `OK, its something. And it just got worse.Its the latest in a series of setbacks this season for Wozniacki, the U.S. Open runner-up in 2009 and 2014.She hasnt won a Grand Slam match this year, losing in the first round at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and missing the French Open because of an injured ankle.At this point, I just cant catch a break. Im thinking, `Im going to catch a break sooner or later. But right now, its just like one thing after the other, Wozniacki said. I feel like Im hitting it pretty well. Im serving well. And its like, this happens. Its just like really disappointing.Wozniacki is supposed to represent Denmark at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month and carry her countrys flag in the opening ceremony. She won an appeal to the International Tennnis Federation to allow her to compete at the Rio Games after she was unable to fulfill the Fed Cup requirements.ddddddddddddAgainst 2011 U.S. Open champion Stosur, Wozniacki was trailing 5-3 at the outset before taking four games in a row. That success came despite how hard it was for her to use her left arm, which even bothered her during ball tosses for serves. She said afterward she was surprised that the top-seeded Stosur kept hitting to her forehand even after the visit from the trainer.She started kind of running around her backhand a little bit more, which is pretty unusual for Caroline to want to do that. So I kind of thought, `OK, theres something going on, Stosur said.As for why she had trouble taking control of the match, Stosur replied: Sometimes its quite difficult playing somebody whos injured.The match was played on a secondary grandstand court, instead of in the hard-court tournaments main stadium, which gets more mens matches than womens matches during the joint event.I notice theres not too many matches on center court for the women, unfortunately, Stosur said when asked by a reporter about the scheduling. Itd be nice if we were kind of 50-50 on center court, thats for sure.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '