Scotty Hopson scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half Wednesday, helping Tennessee pull away to defeat LSU 75-53 in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee (13-7, 3-2 SEC) won for the third time in four games, moving into a tie for second place in the SEC East with Kentucky and South Carolina.

Hopson scored eight of the first 10 points for the Volunteers, his layup with 13:48 left in the opening half giving Tennessee a 10-3 lead. LSU (10-10, 2-3 SEC) pulled within 11-8 on Eddie Ludwig’s jumper, but five more points from Hopson and back-to-back 3-pointers from Cameron Tatum fueled a 13-4 surge that pushed Tennessee’s lead to 24-12 with 9:56 left in the half.

LSU would get no closer than eight points the rest of the half, and Tennessee led 43-27 at halftime.

Hopson finished 9 of 14 from the field and hit three 3-pointers. Tatum added 13 points, Melvin Goines scored 11 and Tobias Harris finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for Tennessee.

Matt Derenbecker scored 13 points to lead LSU, which shot just 34 percent from the field and lost its third in a row. Malcolm White finished with 10 rebounds.

Tennessee travels to Mississippi on Saturday. LSU plays Saturday at SEC West leader Alabama.