Jan. 11, 2006
AUBURN, Ala. - Rasheem Barrett led Auburn with 14 points, but it was not enough to overcome a cold night from the field as Alabama (8-6, 1-1 SEC) held on for a 56-52 win over Auburn (8-5, 0-2 SEC) in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,500 at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.
With Auburn trailing 55-52 with 21 seconds to play, Frank Tolbert missed his free-throw attempt, which would have given him a three-point play, but Rasheem Barrett corralled an offensive rebound to keep the Tigers alive. Following a frantic scramble for the ball, Auburn called timeout with 13 seconds to go to setup one last play.
After the timeout, the Tigers attempted to get the ball into the left corner to Ronny LeMelle, but the Alabama defense locked him up. With LeMelle covered, Josh Dollard had to settle for a deep three that bounced off the back of the rim, which allowed the Crimson Tide to ice the game for their sixth straight win over the Tigers.
Alabama's zone defense kept the Tigers in check during the second half, limiting Auburn to just 18 points on 7-of-27 shooting (25.9 percent). The Tigers scored just eight points the final 13 minutes of the game.
"It's heartbreaking for our players," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "We battled hard. We only shot 26 percent in the second half. There were four of five plays that we didn't make that we should have, and that's the difference in basketball games."
With the game tied at 50 with 1:39 to play, Alabama made five straight free throws to take their first lead since the 9:12 mark of the first half (55-50).
Barrett scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half and finished 5-of-10 from the field. Dollard finished with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds. LeMelle led the Tigers with seven rebounds.
Leading 44-37 after a three-pointer by Barrett at the 13:29 mark of the second half, the Tigers went scoreless for almost six minutes before Barber made a layup with 7:40 to play. During the Tigers' cold spell, Alabama went on a 5-0 run to cut the Tigers lead to two before Barber's layup pushed the Tigers lead to four, 46-42.
Both teams struggled to find their touch from the field, as Auburn shot 38.9 percent (14-of-27) and Alabama shot 37.5 percent (18-48).
With Auburn leading 31-25 with under a minute to play in the half, the Tigers called timeout to setup one final play. Quantez Robertson penetrated and kicked to Dollard who rattled in just his second three of the season as the horn sounded to Auburn a 34-27 lead at the half.
Trailing 15-11 at the 9:42 mark of the first half, Barrett made two free throws, which triggered a 12-2 run to give the Tigers a 23-17 lead with 5:18 to play in the half.
Barrett led all scorers at the half as he scored 11 of the Tigers final 24 points. As a team, the Tigers shot 51.9 percent from the floor on 14-of-27 shooting. Alabama finished 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from the floor in the first frame with five of 10 field goals coming on layups or dunks.
Auburn returns to the hardwood on Saturday when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face the undefeated Florida Gators at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on FSN.