AUBURN, Ala. – It took an extra five minutes, but No. 14 Auburn stayed unbeaten with an 81-78 victory in overtime to beat Furman on Thursday night.
The Tigers trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, their largest deficit of the season, but they continued to chip away at the lead and eventually tied the game with a minute to go before pulling in front in the extra period. It was the team's biggest comeback win since Jan. 20, 2018, when they came back from 16 down to beat Georgia.
"Our second-half defense was tremendous," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "To give (Furman) only eight field goals and down 14, we got stops and got rebounds. From that standpoint, I was obviously pleased.
"Sitting here after eight games, quite frankly, I was expecting more games like this and more games like South Alabama. We've already had a couple of them. When talking about how good of a team we are, we have a ways to go. You might have noticed that more tonight because we almost got beat, but we have a ways to go."
Freshman Isaac Okoro led the way offensively for Auburn with 18 points on 5 of 9 shooting. It was a new career-high in points for Okoro, who made 8 of his 9 free-throw attempts including two in the finals seconds to help put the game away.
"I was just attacking the rim all game," Okoro said. "I didn't think they could stop us from going to the rim and getting to the free throw line. That was the game plan for me."
Though Okoro might have led the Tigers in points, it was senior big man Austin Wiley who took over on both ends of the court down the stretch.
Wiley scored nine of his 13 points in the final three-and-a-half minutes of regulation and in overtime. He finished with 12 rebounds to give him his third double-double in the last four games and was active on the defensive end with two blocks and two steals.
With just over a minute to go and Auburn down two, Wiley forced a miss shot and grabbed the rebound. On the other end, point guard J'Von McCormick scored to tie the game at 64. It was the first time the Tigers had not trailed in the second half. After Furman scored to retake the lead, it was McCormick who proved clutch once again, tying the game with 14 seconds remaining.
McCormick finished with nine points, four assists and four rebounds.
In overtime, Auburn jumped out 9-2 in the first two minutes with Okoro and Wiley scoring the team's first seven points. Furman battled back to cut the lead to two, but when the Tigers needed a basket, Samir Doughty delivered. The senior took off from the baseline and scored inside with 15 seconds left to make it a two-possession game again.
Doughty, who finished with 13 points, has now scored in double figures in every game this season and is averaging 18.5 points per game through the team's first eight games.
Off the bench, Anfernee McLemore and Allen Flanigan both provided a spark for the Tigers. McLemore had nine points and five rebounds despite fouling out in the second half, and Flanigan was a perfect 4 for 4 from the field as the freshman scored a career-high eight points.
"I feel like I'm getting better as we keep playing," Flanigan said. "It gives me more opportunities to get better each chance I get."
With the win, Auburn is now 7-2 in overtime games under Bruce Pearl.
After a nine-day layoff coming into Thursday's game, the Tigers (8-0) won't play again until Saturday, Dec. 14 when they travel to Birmingham to face St. Louis in the second-annual Mike Slive Invitational. The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.