AUBURN, Ala. – No. 13 Auburn rallied from a four-point deficit late to force overtime and edge Furman, 81-78, before a crowd of 8,226 Thursday evening at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers (8-0) opened the overtime period on a 9-3 run to grab a 75-69 lead before Tre Clark converted a free throw and Clay Mounce drained a 3-pointer with 1:35 left to trim the margin to 75-73. After Austin Wiley’s free throws pushed the Auburn lead back to four at 77-73, Mike Bothwell drove into the paint and scored with the left hand to pull Furman within two with under 45 seconds to go.
Samir Doughty scored on a drive to the basket to push the lead to four and Furman was charged with a turnover on the next possession on an Alex Hunter pass that appeared to glance off the fingers of an Auburn defender. The Tigers, however, missed a pair of free throws and Bothwell nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner with under four seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 79-78. The Paladins fouled on the inbounds pass, but Isaac Okoro hit two free throws and Bothwell’s long-range heave missed as time expired.
Okoro led the Tigers with 18 points, while Doughty totaled 13 points. Wiley helped the Tigers to a 48-20 edge in points in the paint with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Sophomore Noah Gurley led Furman with 21 points and eight rebounds before fouling out in the final minutes. Mounce tallied 14 points and Alex Hunter, Jordan Lyons and Jaylon Pugh netted 11 apiece.
Furman grabbed a 39-31 halftime lead by ending the opening 20 minutes on a 13-1 run that was keyed by a pair of Pugh 3-pointers. Lyons opened the second half with a triple to push the Paladin advantage to 42-31.
After Hunter’s layup extended the Furman lead to 46-32 with just over 16 minutes to play, Auburn answered with a 13-2 spurt the cut the Paladin advantage to 48-45 on Okoro’s free throw with 10:34 to go. Furman reestablished an eight-point cushion, but Auburn used an 11-3 run to tie the game on J’Von McCormick’s basket with 1:05 remaining in regulation.
Following baskets by Bothwell and McCormick, Auburn got the basketball back with 5.1 seconds left on a traveling call. McCormick took the ball the length of the floor, but his last-second layup rolled off the front iron to send the game to overtime.
Furman shot 45.9 percent for the game and connected on 13-of-31 3-point tries. The Paladins forced 19 turnovers but were whistled for 27 fouls to just 14 for Auburn. The Tigers shot 46.8 percent from the floor despite Furman holding the Tigers to a 4-for-25 effort from 3-point range.
The Paladins return home to host USC Upstate at Timmons Arena on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m.