BATON ROUGE - The LSU men's basketball team used a composed team effort and made critical plays down the stretch in all facets of the game to put its three-game losing streak in the rear view mirror and grind out a 71-65 victory over Arkansas Saturday at the Maravich Center.

LSU (13-9, 3-5 SEC) had four players score in double figures and converted on 9-of-12 of its free throw attempts during the game's final five minutes.

On the defensive end, the Tigers forced Arkansas (16-7, 4-4 SEC) into 19 turnovers en route to a 25-15 scoring edge in points off miscues. LSU also racked up a season-high 12 blocked shots, the last time the Tigers tallied double digit stuffs was against Ole Miss on Feb. 14, 2009.  

Ralston Turner led the way and notched 10 of his team-high 16 points during the second half. He also buried 7-of-8 at the foul line.

Justin Hamilton garnered 13 points and 11 rebounds to claim his third double-double of the season, while Johnny O'Bryant III hauled in a career-best 11 rebounds to go with eight points. 

From the point guard spot, Anthony Hickey chipped in double figures for the sixth time in eight SEC outings. He posted 12 points, three assists and three steals.

Off the bench, Eddie Ludwig provided a spark. The Metairie native matched his season-high with 12 points. He also added four rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes of action.

Arkansas' Mardracus Wade and Julysses Nobles collected 15 and 14 points, respectively, to pace the Razorbacks. Due in large part to Andre Stringer's suffocating defense, Wade was limited to just three points on 1-of-4 shooting during the second half.

After building a 35-31 advantage at halftime, LSU reeled off six straight points over the first 1:45 of the second stanza. Hickey canned consecutive jumpers followed by a Hamilton lay-up to make it 41-31.

The Tigers never relinquished the lead, but Arkansas got as close as 50-49 on a Wade triple at the 9:02 mark. LSU charged back with O'Bryant III and Turner baskets from the paint over the next minute to regain a five-point lead.

With 2:15 remaining and LSU ahead 61-58, Hickey drew a critical charge on a driving BJ Young in transition to swing the momentum back to the Tigers. After scoring 19 points during the two teams meeting in Fayetteville earlier this season, Young was bottled up for three points on 1-of-5 from the floor. It was Young's lowest output since Arkansas' season opener against USC Upstate.  

Two possessions later, Hamilton knocked down two free throws to put LSU back ahead 63-58 with 1:48 on the clock. The Razorbacks pulled back to within four points on four separate occasions, the latest at 67-63 with 28.9 seconds.

A Ludwig lay-up off the press breaker, two Turner free throws and a Stringer steal vaulted the Tigers back into the win column, 71-65.

Even at 11-11 after the opening eight minutes of the first half, LSU caught fire and doubled up the Razorbacks with 22 of the next 33 points to build its largest lead of the game at 33-22 with 3:33 left. The Tigers nailed 10-of-17 shots during the spurt and seven different players collected a basket.

Arkansas responded with a 9-2 spurt of its own to draw within 35-31 at the intermission.  

Malcolm White missed Saturday's contest while serving a one-game suspension imposed by head coach Trent Johnson for his Flagrant II foul against Kentucky on Jan. 28 in the second half of the contest.

The Tigers travel to Vanderbilt Wednesday for an 8 p.m. CT tilt to officially open up the second half of conference play. The game will be televised by CSS and COX4 along with ESPN3.com live and tape delay on Cox Sports TV after the New Orleans Hornets game.