Auburn basketball’s rally against West Virginia falls short
For the first time this season, Auburn Basketball has lost two games in a row.
The Tigers dropped one against West Virginia in Morgantown on Saturday, 80-77. The Mountaineers were led by Erik Stevenson, a season-high 31 points in his fifth year, 18 of which came in the first half. Auburn’s offense struggled early — 22% from 3-point range and nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes — but Stevenson’s performance was the main catalyst that allowed West Virginia (13-9, 2-6 Big 12) to win his 16th game -Points halftime build up advantage.
Stevenson made three of his four tries from 3-point range in the first half, including one that had Zep Jasper and Wendell Green Jr. draped all over him. He’s the youngest opposing guard to inflict significant damage on the Tigers, as every Auburn loss this season saw a backcourt player leave with 26 or more points.
The Tigers cut away in the second half, using a 9-2 run to carve out a chance to equalize at the free-throw line with less than four minutes to go, but that was as close as could be.
Allen Flanigan led the Tigers by 10 points in the first half on 60% shooting from the field. Jaylin Williams finished the game with 18 points as team leader and added five rebounds for Auburn (16-5, 6-2 SEC). All of Johni Broome’s 15 points came in the second half.
Green finished with nine points and had a double-digit scoring streak in six games.
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KD Johnson’s efforts
Broome’s second-half strike was crucial, but KD Johnson was the spark that led Auburn almost all the way back. He had nine points in the second half and shot 4 of 6 from the floor. He also stole the ball from the Mountaineers with less than 30 seconds left, giving Auburn a chance to tie it late.
Coach Bruce Pearl designed a play that gave Williams a clean look from deep that would have knotted the score at 78, but the shot didn’t come. West Virginia shared the following free throws to go up by four. The Tigers had another opportunity to equalize with a 3-point attempt from Green, but his shot went wide after time was up.
Next
Auburn returns home to Neville Arena for a game against Georgia on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT, SEC Network). The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 76-64 earlier this season. Terry Roberts led Georgia with 26 points.
Richard Silva is the Auburn Athletics Beat Writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @rich_silva18.
