Nov. 19, 2017
CHARLESTON, S.C. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Mustapha Heron scored a season-high 22 points to lead the Auburn men's basketball team to an 89-78 victory against Hofstra in the third place game of the 2017 Charleston Classic.
The Tigers (3-1) shot over 56 percent from the floor in the first half, but trailed by one heading into the locker room, 50-49, as Hofstra (3-2) made nine shots from downtown and drilled 64 percent of its attempts.
"If you go score 49 points in the first half and you're down by one, you're not going to win many games that way," head coach Bruce Pearl said. "We changed the coverages. Coach [Chad] Prewett suggested we change a matchup with the inside players and we actually changed four defensive matchups."
Auburn came out of the break on fire as it used a season-best 18-0 run to regain the lead at 67-50. The Tigers forced five turnovers and kept the Pride off the board for the opening 7:30 to begin the second half.
"We came into the locker room down by one and we just wanted to come out in the second half with a lot of energy, focus on defense and let our defense lead to offense," Heron said.
Heron contributed seven points to highlight the team's run. Desean Murray, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds, tallied a pair of buckets as well in the run.
Hofstra was able to get the margin down to seven at 71-64 with just under eight minutes to go, but the Tigers outscored the Pride 18-14 down the stretch to take the result, 89-78.
Bryce Brown followed Heron on the scoresheet with 17 points. Jared Harper rounded out the top scorers with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc.
Hofstra was led by Eli Pemberton with 23 points on 8-of-12 from the floor and seven rebounds.
The third-place finish marks the highest non-conference finish for Auburn in an eight-team tournament since 2002 when the Tigers won the San Juan Shootout.
Auburn returns to the floor Friday, Nov. 24 for Charles Barkley Appreciation Night against Winthrop. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. CT.