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LSU basketball dropped its third straight road SEC game on Saturday as a valiant late game comeback ultimately fell short, suffering a crushing 88-82 loss at the hands of Alabama.

The defeat now puts LSU (18-7, 9-3) on the outside looking in for a second straight SEC crown with No. 11 Auburn and No. 12 Kentucky tied for first place atop the conference with two losses a piece.

If you tuned into the game at the 14:08 point of the second-half, you probably would've turned off the TV. The Tigers trailed 59-41 and weren't putting up much of a fight at all. 

Little by little, like this team has been prone to do in the past, it chipped away. A 9-0 run cut the deficit in half. A few minutes later a 9-2 run turned a 12 point deficit to five with 3:29 remaining. With 1:35, a Skylar Mays three-pointer cut the Alabama lead to 79-78.

But that's as close as the Tigers would get as three-pointers from Jaden Shackelford and Alex Reese decimated any chance of LSU pulling off the monumental comeback. That was just three of Shackelford's 26 points as he and Kira Lewis torched LSU all night, combining for 53 points, 31 of which came in the second-half. 

For LSU, Mays led the way with 24 points and nine rebounds while freshman Trendon Watford poured in 18 more. 

LSU was simply unable to get anything going for too long as the Tigers were shooting just 31.5% with 17:08 to go in the game. They'd go on to make 16 of their final 28 shots from the field but the hole it dug was just too big to climb out of in the end.  

Despite a disastrous start shooting the ball, LSU was able to find a way to stick around with the Crimson Tide most of the first half. LSU started an abysmal 3-for-16 from the floor but Alabama didn't fare much better with a 5-for-16 start from the field.

With the game tied at 25 a piece and a little over four minutes to go in the half, that's when the game unraveled for the Tigers. Alabama closed the half on a 15-4 run to grab a 40-29 lead.

The Tigers are now in a position where they no longer control their own destiny. LSU will likely need to finish the season perfect and also need help from No. 11 Auburn, who'd have to lose twice for LSU to claim a second straight SEC crown.

All LSU can do is worry about who's next and that's No. 12 Kentucky. The Wildcats will be in the PMAC on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in what should be close to a sold out venue.