Whatever ASU men’s basketball coach Herb Sendek said at half time, it worked.

After a sluggish and lackadaisical first half, a different ASU team came out of the locker room and outscored LSU 44-18 in the second half and took third place in the NIT Season Tip-Off with a 71-52 victory at Madison Square Garden.

The halftime speech worked, but couldn’t be repeated.

“I'm not sure if I can say some of those things,” senior guard Derek Glasser, according to the NIT Web site. “But, you know, none of the coaches were happy. They came in the locker room and let us have it. They gave us a little spark, and we answered in the second half.”

The game was a back-and-forth affair until LSU seized control with a 12-0 run about midway through the first half and led 28-17 with 5:26 to play in the period.

ASU (5-1) responded with a 10-1 run that cut the Tigers’ lead to 29-27, but LSU ended the half on a 5-0 spurt that was capped by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by sophomore guard Zach Kinsley to give LSU a 34-27 advantage at the break.

Kinsley, a walk on, took advantage of ASU’s struggling defense in the first half and was the beneficiary of many open looks the Sun Devils gave LSU (3-2) early on.

The Tigers shot 60 percent in the first half, but that changed fast in the final 20 minutes.

LSU started the second half by missing 15 of their first 17 shots and their open looks were suddenly turned into contested shots.

“We had a very good defensive effort in the second half,” Sendek said, according to the tournament Web site. “At the same time, you know, for that kind of run to occur, they missed some shots that in the first half they were knocking down.”

The Sun Devils opened the second half on a 13-4 run — sparked by senior center Eric Boateng and Glasser — that led to ASU grabbing the lead for good at 40-38 with 10:17 to play.

Boateng then helped the Sun Devils pull away from the Tigers by scoring 10 points during a crucial 21-4 ASU run that stretched the Sun Devils lead from just 42-41 to an 18-point advantage with 3:11 left.

Sendek said he was impressed with the way Boateng bounced back after struggling on Wednesday against Duke.

“It says a lot about him as a person,” Sendek said. “Because let's face it, he didn't have the best of games on Wednesday night. You can only imagine there was probably some extra burden for him to play in that game.”

ASU’s defense cranked it up a notch in the second half and held LSU to just 20 percent shooting (5-25) and forced 12 turnovers.

Most of ASU’s second-half comeback took place without two of its key players on the floor.

Junior guard Ty Abbott left the game early in the second half with a lacerated eyelid and did not return, while junior forward Rihards Kuksiks spent much of the game in foul trouble.

Sendek said he thinks Abbott likely avoided serious injury.

“He got a cut I think near or on his eye socket. He was having a hard time seeing and he was in quite a bit of pain,” Sendek said. “But I think he's going to be OK.”

Glasser finished with a career-high 24 points on seven-of-nine shooting and added six assists. Also finishing seven-of-nine from the field was Boateng, who had 17 points and eight rebounds for ASU.

LSU, which was playing without leading scorer Bo Spencer due to an ankle injury, was led by senior forward Tasmin Mitchell’s 17 points. Kinsley finished with 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half.

After taking third place in the Preseason NIT, ASU returns home for a matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-3) at 7 p.m. on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Sendek knows that the trip to New York and the quality competition the team faced will help ASU the rest of the way.

“It's a wonderful experience for our team,” Sendek said. “I think anytime you play against outstanding competition like we did this week, there's always a lot there to learn. We'll continue to watch the tape and take all these experiences and try to build on them.”

Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu