Written by Adrian Beecher
Salt Lake City, UT – Auburn survived a last-second scare in Vivint Smart Home Arena on Thursday afternoon. After going up 13 in the 2nd half, the 12th seeded Aggies of New Mexico State fought back but came up just one point short as the 5th seeded Tigers advanced to the round of 32 with a 78-77 win.
Auburn won the tip, but it was the Aggies of New Mexico State scoring the first and taking a 4-0 lead to start the matchup. The Tigers first basket of the night came from three-point land as Anfernee McLemore drained his first shot of the night.
The aggressiveness of the Aggies continued early as they jumped out to a 14-8 lead over Auburn, as the hit 6 of 7 shots from the field to start the affair. The Tigers would hang back for long though, as they went on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to just 1 with 11:30 left in the first half.
After a triple from New Mexico State’s Jojo Zamora, the Tigers really got to work. J’Von McCormick put in a layup for Auburn to start a 10-0 run. After a timeout from the Aggies, the bleeding continued as Chuma Okeke drained a triple to put the Auburn lead to 28-19.
Johnny McCants would be the one to finally put an end to the scoring drought for the Aggies as he put in a layup and a second chance free throw to cut the deficit to 6.
This started a 7-0 run as the Aggies cut the deficit to just 1 point. Two free throws at the end of the first half for the Tigers would send Auburn into the locker room with a 32-29 lead.
New Mexico State started the second half with two straight made layups. The problem, however, the Tigers opened the 2nd half with two straight triples to extend their lead at 38-33.
This was just the start of an early onslaught by the Tigers as they pushed their lead to 12 as Bryce Brown put in a layup with 17:05 left in the 2nd half.
The Aggies weren’t about to roll over though, as they cut the deficit multiple time to 8. Then with 11:49 left to play, Shunn Buchanan put in a layup to cut the deficit to only 6.
Then after a layup the other way from Auburn, Eli Chuha was driving into the lane and was called for an offensive personal foul. This was much to his displeasure as he yelled multiple expletives, which quickly got the attention of the refs, who then called a Class A technical foul.
Auburn then used that lapse in judgment by the Aggies to push their lead to 13 as Brown drilled a triple with only 7:53 left in the game. This didn’t kill the fight in the Aggies though, as they once again fought back and with 5:46 left to play, Trevelin Queen drained a triple to cut the deficit to just 6 for the Aggies.
After a triple from Jared Harper for Auburn pushed the lead to 9, the fight continued for the Aggies. McCants slammed homa dunk for the Aggies to start an 11-3 run that trimmed the deficit to only 1 point with 28 seconds left to play.
Auburn was able to push the lead back to four with only 12 seconds left. However after a triple from Zamora cut the deficit to just 1 with 7 seconds left to go, things got very interesting.
Samir Doughty missed the front end of a double bonus at the line for the Tigers. This left the door open for the Aggies. Down at the other end of the floor on the ensuing possession, Terrell Brown was fouled beyond the arc and went to the line for 3 free throws.
Brown ended up missing the front end and back end of the free throws, keeping the Tigers out front 78-77. However, the rebound was knocked out of bounds for by Auburn, giving the Aggies one last shot for the win.
The shot was put up for three by Trevelin Queen and it wasn’t even close, as the final buzzer sounded, sending the Tiger onto the next round.
Jared Harper led the way for the Tigers with 17 points. Auburn will face the winner of Kansas vs Northeastern.
Image Credit: Janet Polidura / The SkyBoat
