National Basketball Association
Auburn 66, Texas A&M 59
When: 3:30 PM ET, Thursday, March 12, 2015
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Officials:
# Kevin Fehr, # Anthony Jordan, # Olandis Poole
Attendance:
15197
By SportsDirect Inc.
Auburn 66, Texas A&M 59: KT Harrell scored a
game-high 25 points and the 13th-seeded Tigers outscored the
fifth-seeded Aggies 43-26 in the second half to notch a second-round SEC
tournament win in Nashville.
Cinmeon Bowers added 10 points and eight rebounds
for Auburn (14-19), which has won back-to-back SEC tourney games for the first
time since 2000 to set up a Friday quarterfinal date with fourth-seeded LSU. The
Tigers, who also received eight points and four assists from K.C. Ross-Miller
and seven points off the bench from Malcolm Canada, shot only 34 percent from
the field but hit eight 3-pointers and finished with a 24-14 advantage in made free throws.
Alex Caruso scored 11 points but also had 10
turnovers for Texas A&M (20-11), which has lost its last three games and likely
lost any remaining shot it had of earning an NCAA Tournament bid. The Aggies,
who played their third straight game without leading scorer Danuel House (foot
sprain), also received 11 points off the bench from Alex Robinson and a
game-high 12 rebounds from Kourtney Roberson, but shot 29.2 percent from the
floor in the second half and finished with 19 turnovers.
After trailing 33-23 at halftime, Auburn
connected on four 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half as
part of a stunning 16-1 run that gave the Tigers a 39-34 advantage. Texas
A&M immediately closed to within 39-37, but Auburn answered with a 14-9 run
to take its first double-digit lead at 53-43 with 8:13 to play and the Aggies got
no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Auburn jumped out to a 10-4 lead to open the
game, carrying over the momentum from its first-round win the previous night.
Texas A&M, though, stormed ahead with a 20-4 run en route to the 10-point advantage
at the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Auburn had lost its final six
regular-season games before beating 12th-seeded Mississippi State
74-68 in Wednesday’s opening round. … The Tigers finished 8-of-25 from long range
after hitting only 9-of-38 3-pointers in losing twice to Texas A&M during
the regular season. … The Aggies dropped to 1-3 all-time in the SEC tourney since
joining the conference for the 2012-13 season.
Top Game Performances
Auburn |
|
Texas A&M |
KT Harrell 25 |
Scoring |
Alex Caruso 11 |
K.C. Ross-Miller 4 |
Assists |
Alex Caruso 4 |
Cinmeon Bowers 8 |
Rebounds |
Kourtney Roberson 12 |
KT Harrell 11 |
Free Throws Made |
Alex Caruso 5 |
Malcolm Canada 3 |
Steals |
Alex Caruso 4 |
Jordon Granger 1 |
Blocks |
Jalen Jones 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Auburn
|
66 |
34.0 |
8-25 |
24-38 |
12 |
32 |
2 |
10 |
10 |
Texas A&M
|
59 |
42.6 |
5-19 |
14-21 |
10 |
38 |
3 |
8 |
19 |