The Auburn Tigers appeared to be on the way to another loss early, but overcame a deficit against Mississippi State. They fell short in the end, regardless of the comeback effort.
Only judging by the first half, it looks as though the Auburn Tigers were well on their way to falling to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in convincing fashion on the road inside Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night.
While Mississippi State (13-13, 5-8 SEC) ended up coming out on top in the end with a 91-85 victory, Auburn (14-12, 5-8 SEC) led an impressive comeback in the second half.
When the buzzer sounded at the end of the first half and both teams returned to their respective locker rooms, the Tigers were on the wrong side of a 16-point deficit.
They trimmed the lead down throughout the second half, going on a 17-1 run from the 14:54 mark to the 11:46 mark to trim the deficit to five points. With 8:50 left in the game KeShawn Murphy hit a mid-range jump shot to give Auburn its first lead of the game.
The Tigers built their lead up to seven points with 3:56 remaining on the clock, but the Bulldogs didn't quit. With 0:44 left, Josh Hubbard buried a 3-pointer to put Mississippi State up by two points, allowing the home team to reclaim control of the game and finish off the win.
After missing Auburn's game against Arkansas on Saturday night, Keyshawn Hall took no prisoners in his return to the floor. He led Auburn in scoring with 29 points , shooting 8-of-17 from the field, 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Murphy led the Tigers on the glass with 11 rebounds and Tahaad Pettiford led the way in assists with four.
Auburn had no answer for Hubbard, however, as he led the Bulldogs with a dominant 46-point performance, also leading the team in rebounds with none.
No other Bulldog managed to reach the 15-point threshold, but it was unnecessary with the way Hubbard performed and put the team on his back.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday when they host the Kentucky Wildcats at Neville Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT, and ESPN will carry the television broadcast.