Keyshawn Hall poured in 31 points, with 25 of them in the second half, as surging Auburn shredded the nets in the second half to secure an 88-82 victory over Texas on Wednesday in a Southeastern Conference game in Auburn, Ala.
The Longhorns led by eight at halftime but Auburn (14-7, 5-3 SEC) rallied to take a 56-55 lead just under eight and a half minutes into the second half. The game was tied at 60 with 8:22 to play before the Tigers took charge, building a 76-66 advantage after Hall’s jumper with 3:06 remaining.
Texas closed the gap to four points after Matas Vokietaitis made two free throws with 36 seconds remaining, and again after a layup by Chendall Weaver with 16 seconds left. Kevin Overton made four clutch free throws, and Hall dunked with 2.7 seconds remaining to help Auburn maintain control.
Overton added 25 points and Elyjah Freeman had 10 for Auburn, which shot 68.4% in the second half on the way to winning its fourth straight game.
Dailyn Swain racked up 30 points to lead Texas (12-9, 3-5 SEC), with Camden Heide adding 17, and Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope scoring 12 points each.
The Tigers led 5-3 early on before Texas reeled off 14 of the ensuing 17 points. Pope canned a pair of 3-pointers during the run, Heide added another and Swain hit a fourth at the 12:43 mark to put the Longhorns up 17-8.
Texas stoked its lead to 14 points when Swain scored on another 3-pointer and then a short jumper, the latter with 9:01 left before halftime.
Auburn culled its deficit to 31-23 after Sebastian Williams-Adams’ steal and layup with 3:58 to play in the half. Hall’s four-point play with 7.4 seconds left was answered by two free throws by Swain with 0.2 seconds remaining as Texas carried a 42-34 lead at the break.
Swain led all scorers with 17 points at halftime with Pope adding 10 for the Longhorns; Overton’s eight points in the half paced the Tigers.
The Longhorns led by 10 with 18:15 to play before Auburn forged a 19-8 run capped by Freeman’s putback layup at the 11:32 mark that put the Tigers in front 56-55.
–Field Level Media
