Bulldogs' run in SEC Tournament comes to an end in hard-fought loss to Auburn, 73-66

NASHVILLE – After two important SEC Tournament wins that have likely clinched Mississippi State’s spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs wanted more on Saturday.

State played in its first semifinal game since 2010 against a red-hot Auburn team and brought a dogfight to the Bridgestone Arena. In the end, the Tigers would prevail with fresher legs.

AU took a tie game at halftime and expanded the lead to nine before fending off a late rally from the Bulldogs. It ended State’s run in Nashville short of the title game, 73-66.

“We had our chances. We had some good wins down here. We knew today was going to be hard,” coach Chris Jans said. “I knew it would take a good effort for us today to figure out a way to win that third game in three days. But we didn’t even talk about that.

“I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it during the game. It didn’t feel like fatigue was a factor, but I’m not those guys out there playing. I mean, it’s not going to come to fruition, but certainly (Sunday) may have been more of a factor.”

Second half effort from Tigers leads to win

Trailing by nine points with 9:05 left in the game, the Bulldogs stormed back behind superstar freshman Josh Hubbard and cut the lead to 57-56 with 5 minutes left. Auburn came out of that timeout and got two dunks from Dylan Cardwell to take back the ball game and take the win from State.

It was a game that was fueled with intensity on both sides and included five different technical fouls and 39 total fouls. State couldn’t make the Tigers pay with its own foul shooting as the Bulldogs missed 10 free throws and were 17-of-27. State did make its final six free throws but they would prove to be vital.

The Bulldogs and Tigers were tied at 31-31 at halftime as the defenses were setting the tone. Foul calls would take over in the second half as the two teams had combined for 16 in the first 10 minutes.

The Tigers’ Chad Baker-Mazara was at the middle of three of the technical fouls as his tie up on the ground with KeShawn Murphy in the first half led to a technical on Murphy and he and DJ Jeffries got into an altercation in the second half that led to double technicals for the two.

The heated nature of the game slowed the pace in the second half with the referees calling the game much tighter.

“I would say we lost our composure, especially myself. I allowed (Baker-Mazara) to get in my head. A lot of us did,” Jeffries said. “I feel like if we kept our composure, we would be fine. Probably would be a different result is what I would say.

Auburn would rise up and hit shots in the second half including making four of the final five and the Tigers hit 50% for the game with 6-of-19 makes from 3-point range. Auburn also had a 17-of-22 day from the free throw line.

MSU (21-13) had a 37-29 edge in rebounding and pulled down 17 offensive rebounds but 12 of those came in the first half with 10 second chance points. The Bulldogs had just two second chance points in the final 20 minutes.

Hubbard was held to just three points in the first half but the freshman came alive later in the game. He had 20 or more points for the seventh time in the last eight ball games with his 20 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Hubbard was held to 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

“I wasn’t as productive the first half. Got it going in the second half,” Hubbard said. “They just denied me a lot. We pretty much expected it, though. I feel like we did a good job to get transition points in the first half the way that we did, keep the game like we wanted to keep it.”

Tolu Smith finished with a double-double with 10 points on just 3-of-8 and 4-of-8 free throws and had 10 rebounds. Jeffries had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds with three assists.

 Cameron Matthews was held to just three points on 1-of-7 shooting and fouled out of the ball game late.

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It was a strong effort from the Bulldogs over the course of three days and they’ve all but sealed their spot in the NCAA Tournament. MSU will find out for sure on Sunday afternoon as the Selection Show will air on CBS at 5 p.m.

“We always knew we can compete with the top teams in the league. We just came up short today,” Jeffries said. “It hurt. But we got all the momentum we need to go in the tournament next week, try to make a run again. We just got to regroup again. This loss hurt because we want to be in the championship. But you got to move on and regroup.”