Feb. 1, 2006
BATON ROUGE, La. - Four players scored in double figures for Auburn, but it was not enough as No. 24 LSU got 27 points from Darrel Mitchell in an 84-69 win on Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
After Auburn (9-9, 1-6 SEC) tied the game at 56 on Korvotney Barber's layup with 11:34 to play, LSU (15-5, 7-0, SEC) used a 28-13 run to conclude the game.
"We battled our tails off," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "We were right in it until the end and I'm extremely proud of them. We showed a lot of toughness and we faced a lot of adversity."
Following Barber's layup, Auburn's gutsy performance was not enough, as Auburn went cold from the field, going almost six minutes between field goals until Quantez Robertson's three-pointer with 5:40 to play pulled Auburn to within six, 70-64. Unfortunately for Auburn, Robertson's bucket was not enough to spark the offense, as Auburn was able to make just one more field goal in the game and ended the contest with just two field goals in the final 11:33 of the game.
Frank Tolbert led Auburn's relentless performance with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while Barber had a career-high 13 points and matched his career number with eight rebounds. Also in double figures for Auburn was Josh Dollard with 13 points and Quantez Robertson with 11. Robertson also added six assists and five rebounds.
Trailing 48-40 with 17 minutes to play, Josh Dollard scored four straight points and Frank Tolbert added a three, which triggered a 14-4 run to give Auburn a 54-52 lead. The lead by Auburn was its first since the 12:47 mark of the first half.
LSU shot 56 percent in the first half and held a 40-33 lead at the break, as Auburn shot 41.9 percent from the floor, but made only 2-of-12 three-point attempts. Korvotney Barber scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first frame to lead Auburn. LSU was led by Darrel Mitchell's 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Auburn continues SEC play on the road at Mississippi State on Saturday at 6 p.m.