Cruising to a sizable double-digit lead nearing the midway point of the second half, Auburn basketball collapsed en route to its second consecutive conference loss on Tuesday night in Neville Arena against Texas A&M, 90-88.
A last-second half-court heave from Keyshawn Murphy sent the Auburn faithful into a frenzy as he netted what seemed to be the Tigers’ final basket, which would have given them a 1-point win. But after review, the basket was overturned, marking Auburn’s first loss on its home court this season.
The Aggies have won five of the last six matchups in the series, as Auburn fell to 9-6 on the season.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Auburn sprints out to a 16-point lead
Ending the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 47-37 lead into the break, Auburn came out in the final stanza and increased its advantage to 16 points with 13:39 left in the game.
The faithful in Neville Arena were on their feet, and it seemed the Tigers were well on their way to an SEC win.
Keyshawn Hall had just notched 22 points, and Auburn was on a 10-2 run within the first five minutes of the second half.
Then, a complete turn of events
There was a lightning-quick change of momentum as Auburn held a 61-45 lead.
The Tigers committed back-to-back turnovers under the basket on inbound plays, leading to a pair of triples from the Aggies. Auburn head coach Steven Pearl called a timeout, and the Tigers followed with yet another turnover, leading to a 3-point play on a converted and-1 under the basket to quickly cut the lead to 61-54.
Soon after, Texas A&M was in the midst of a 31-6 run in less than seven minutes of play to take a 12-point lead of its own, and one it held onto for the remainder of the game.
Auburn cut into the Aggies’ lead with under two minutes to play, as it trailed by five points. A long 3-point heave from Reaben Dominguez seemed to put the nail in the coffin, but Auburn narrowed the lead to one after a pair of converted free throws in the final seconds from Hall.
The Aggies then went 1- & -1, and it seemed they had iced the game.
Murphy’s half-court heave overturned
With .6 seconds left on the clock, Auburn big man KeShawn Murphy received the inbound pass near half court and cashed in on a last-hope shot to win the game as the buzzer sounded.
Neville Arena was alive once more, but after review, Murphy did not get the shot off in time, making the loss much more of a stinger.
Pop Issacs highlights second-half surge
Auburn held the 11th-best 3-point shooting team in the nation to four triples in the first half. But the Aggies went on to hit six in less than six minutes of play in the second half, finishing with 13 on the night with a 52.9% mark in the second half.
Issacs was the catalyst for it all.
Scoring four points in the first half, Issacs tallied 16 second-half points with three treys to field the Aggies' 52.5% second-half shooting performance.
Ruben Dominguez cashed in on a trio of threes in the second half, with Jacari Lane and Marcus Hill combining for three.
Hall’s 32 not enough
The first Auburn player to enter conference play with an average of 20 points or more since Wesley Person did so in 1993-1994, Hall continued his prolific-scoring ways on Tuesday night.
The crafty left-handed forward notched 32 points, marking his ninth game of the season with 20-plus points. He buried three of the Tigers’ seven triples and was 13-of-16 from the charity stripe.
Hall has netted 109 free throws on the season, which is top 10 nationally, while also owning honors as the only player in the league (before Tuesday’s league games) to rank in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding.
Auburn will cap off a two-game home stand as No. 15 Arkansas makes the trek to the Plains for a 5 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, with ESPN carrying the broadcast.
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