BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Marcus Thornton scored 24 points to lead LSU to a 68-41 victory against Nicholls State in a non-conference game Wednesday night.

Thornton, who was 9-of-14 from the field, scored 17 of his points in the second half when the Tigers (4-2) expanded their 31-19 halftime lead. Thornton made four 3-pointers.

Chris Johnson added 16 for LSU and Bo Spencer had 11, including three from 3-point range.

The 41 points were the fewest scored by the Colonels in a game this season.

Ryan Bathie led Nicholls State with 11 points, while Michael Czepil had 10. The Colonels (1-6) made just 30 percent of their field goal attempts.

The Tigers took control of the game with a 16-5 run during the middle of the opening half. With the score tied at 6, LSU got baskets from Terry Martin and Thornton. Spencer and Garrett Green then scored all but two of the final 12 points in the run. Spencer made a pair of 3-pointers, while Green sank a pair of field goals. Spencer's second 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 22-11 lead.

Nicholls State cut its deficit to five points, but LSU scored the final seven points of the half to build its 12-point lead.

The Colonels pulled within nine points at 36-27 early in the second half but the Tigers went on a 16-3 run to take a 22-point advantage.