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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Men's hoops: Auburn folds down the stretch in 84-74 loss to No. 18 Ole Miss

AUBURN, Ala. — Another late-game slump has Auburn off to its worst start in SEC play in four seasons.

Ole Miss' backcourt of Terrico White, Chris Warren and Eniel Polynice combined for 53 points to lead the No. 18 Rebels to a second-half charge in an 84-74 win against the slumping Tigers at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.

"That was pretty standard for us," Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. "We get to the eight-minute mark and can't finish it out. It's frustrating. I feel for the kids."

Auburn (10-11, 1-5 SEC) is off to its worst start in league play since going 1-7 to begin the 2005-06 conference season.

It matches the worst six-game conference start of the Lebo era. The two previous times the Tigers started 1-5 in SEC play under Lebo, they finished 4-12.

Four of Auburn's five SEC losses have come against teams currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25.

Ole Miss (16-4, 4-2) has already matched its win total from last season. Warren paced the Rebels with 20 points. White scored 19 and Polynice 14.

The Tigers led at halftime 41-38 after Brendon Knox converted a three-point play after being fouled on a layup with 3.4 seconds left. Auburn made eight 3-pointers in the half, led by Tay Waller, who made four and scored 16 of his team-high 21 points before the break.

But like losses at Tennessee and Vanderbilt, things slipped away for the Tigers in the second half. Ole Miss led by three before a 12-2 burst put the game out of reach.

White, who scored 16 of his 19 points after halftime, and Terrance Henry hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to start the run. A DeAundre Cranston layup and pull-up jumper by White capped things, giving the Rebels a 78-65 lead with 4:34 to play.

"We showed spurts, but we for some reason we just can't keep it up," Waller said. "It's the same thing every game. It's very frustrating."

Auburn guard DeWayne Reed, who injured his right leg in practice Wednesday, started and finished with 15 points but was 4-for-15 from the field. He and guard Frankie Sullivan combined to go 6-for-27 from the floor.

The Rebels dominated the Tigers with their size, holding a 46-24 advantage in points in the paint. Ole Miss shot 56.7 percent for the game (34-for-60).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pack up Jeff

Anonymous said...

This team drives me nuts...playing along just fine and then they start all these mad dash drives to the basket ending with an over the shoulder toss toward the hole. And of course the matador defense....how many layouts did Ole Miss get while surrounded by two or three Auburn spectators right under the basket?

ExKnightMike said...

As if the team isn't bad enough, the Ledger-Inquirer makes me log in again every few months. Who can remember junk like user names and passwords for two months? I could write it down, but I guess that would spoil all the fun....