The New Orleans Pelicans pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in franchise history in beating the Los Angeles Lakers 116-108 on Sunday night at the Smoothie King Center in front of a sold out crowd. New Orleans trailed by as many as 23 but outscored the Lakers 67-39 in the second half. The Pels had never won a game when trailing by at least 20 at the midway point. They were led by Brandon Ingram, who scored 26 points in 26 minutes, and Trey Murphy III, who dropped 16 points on 5-6 shooting in the third quarter to spark the comeback. Jonas Valanciunas added another double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Herb Jones finished with 16 points and a career-high six steals. New Orleans now holds the season tiebreaker over LA and the ninth spot in the West with seven games to go in the regular season.

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The Pelicans also signed rookie guard Jose Alvarado to a four-year, $6.5 million contract. Alvarado, undrafted out of Georgia Tech, will get $3.4 million in guaranteed money over the next two years.

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Former LSU Tiger Shaquille O’Neal can add one more thing to his impressive resume…Academy Award Winner. O’Neal and Warriors guard Stephen Curry were among the executive producers of the short documentary, “The Queen of Basketball” about the life of women’s basketball pioneer Lusia Harris, the first woman drafted by an NBA team.

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The LSU football Tigers held their second spring practice on Saturday. Quarterback Myles Brennan says the attitude is completely different than when LSU ended last season against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl…

Cut 16 (20) “…has been awesome.”

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LSU baseball bounced back in a big way after being routed by Florida in the first game of their weekend series. The Tigers took the final two games, outscoring the Gators 27-6 in the process and evening their conference record at 3-3.

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The Men’s Final Four is set for next weekend in New Orleans, and bluebloods abound. Kansas will take on Villanova in one semifinal, the fourth appearance in NOLA for the Jayhawks, and North Carolina and Duke will meet for the first time in the NCAA tournament in the other semifinal.

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And Louisiana Tech is expected to name Texas Tech assistant Talvin Hester as the school’s next men’s basketball coach.