After surviving a back-and-forth contest against the No. 13 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs, the No. 12 seed Auburn Tigers have punched their ticket to the second round of the SEC Tournament.

When the final buzzer sounded inside Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday afternoon, Auburn found itself on the positive end of a 79-61 final score, keeping its hopes of earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament alive.

Auburn started out in control of the contest, building a five-point lead less than two minutes after the game began.

The Bulldogs answered back quickly, and built a double-digit lead with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. This gave Auburn an adverse situation to fight through in the second half.

A 13-7 run out of the gate in the second half allowed Auburn to find a way to climb back into the driver's seat. 

The Bulldogs never managed to find a way to reclaim momentum and get back in control, and when it was all said and done, the Tigers had come out on top by nearly 20 points.

Auburn had multiple players step up today, but Kevin Overton put together a performance that made a significant difference in the Tigers' effort to get the job done. He led the team in scoring with 22 points, shooting 8-of-19 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3-point range. He co-led the team in assists alongside Tahaad Pettiford, each having five.

Similar to the last meeting between Auburn and Mississippi State, Josh Hubbard played a big role for the Bulldogs. Unlike the previous matchup, Hubbard did not cross the 40-point threshold, as he was limited to 22. That made the difference this time around.

With the win, the Tigers have earned the right to take on the No. 5 seed Tennessee Volunteers in the second round of the tournament at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday. SEC Network will carry the television broadcast.