Feb. 22, 2006
AUBURN, Ala. - Rasheem Barrett scored 22 points and Daniel Hayles added a career-high 18 points as Auburn held on for a 75-71 win over a late-charging Mississippi State squad on Wednesday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
Auburn (11-13, 3-10 SEC), who has now won three of its last four home games, led by as many as 21 points before Mississippi State (13-13, 3-10 SEC) made a late charge and narrowed the Tigers lead to as little as three (71-68) with 29 seconds to play before Rasheem Barrett put the game on ice with four straight free throws.
"Offensively, we shot well tonight," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "Twenty points ahead of a team isn't that much in basketball. This is such a momentum based game. We had to hang on to get the win. We missed some shots in the second half when we had good looks."
Auburn, who lost at Mississippi State by 18, 71-53, on Feb. 4, was able to split the season series with the Bulldogs, despite being outscored 30-15 to end the game and 40-20 in the paint.
Barrett's 22 points were an SEC high as he finished 5-of-10 from the field, including 9-of-9 from the charity stripe. After missing the last two games due to injury, Hayles scored 14 of his career-high 18 points in the first half and connected on 4-of-5 treys. Korvotney Barber paced the Tigers with seven rebounds and nine points.
Mississippi State posted two double-doubles, as Charles Rhodes finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Dietric Slater tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.
Trailing 40-20 at the half, Mississippi State opened the second half on a 21-11 run to pull within 10 at 51-41 with 10:51 to play. However, Auburn would get as basket by Frank Tolbert at the 10:28 mark which helped trigger a 9-0 run by the Tigers, which extended their lead back to 19, 60-41, with 8:28 to play.
Auburn ended the first half on a 28-4 run and held a 40-20 lead at the break. The Tigers were led by Hayles and Barrett, who combined to score 24 of the Tigers' final 28 points of the first half, including the final 21. The 40 points scored was a high in SEC play for the Tigers.
Trailing Mississippi State 16-12, a three-pointer by Hayles with 10:52 to play in the half sparked a 15-0 run and gave the Tigers a 27-16 lead. After starting the game just 3-of-13 from the field, the Tigers hit eight of their next 10 shots.
Following a layup by the Bulldogs' Vernon Goodridge that ended Mississippi State's scoreless drought at almost six minutes, Hayles hit two more three-pointers in a span of 25 seconds, which led to a 13-2 run to give the Tigers their largest lead of the half at 40-20.
Hayles led the Tigers with 14 points at the half on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. Barrett scored 12 points for the Tigers in the half.
Auburn played without freshman forward Josh Dollard, who was not with the team after a violation of team rules.
Auburn returns to action on Saturday, when the Tigers travel to Oxford, Miss., to play Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports.