MYKONOS, Greece – Caleb Williams’ last second 3-point attempt was no good as KK Mega Superbet held on to defeat the Auburn men’s basketball team 70-68 on Sunday night at Ano Mera Indoor Hall in Mykonos.
In a game in which Tahaad Pettiford only played the first quarter and Kevin Overton sat for the final 17 minutes, the Tigers battled back from nine down in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but the last second attempt was just off.
Bukky Oboye led Auburn with 17 points, while Adam Olsen and Kevin Overton joined him in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Thomas Dowd was a monster on the glass, finishing with 18 rebounds (nine on both ends) to go along with eight points and four assists.
“I thought KK Mega Superbet did a great job of coming out being aggressive and played physically,” Head Coach Steven Pearl said. “They did a good job of limiting us to one shot early in the game. We had way too many turnovers and without Tahaad and KO in the second half that was to be expected. I thought our guys competed, but we just didn’t make the shots we made last night.”
Pettiford led the first quarter efforts with five points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block as the Tigers led 18-12 after one.
The two teams played evenly in the second quarter with Superbet outscoring Auburn 25-23, but an alley-oop from Willaim to Oboye as time expired gave Auburn a 41-37 halftime lead.
Superbet took its first lead since it was 3-2 early in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Mihailo Boskovic to give them a 44-43 advantage. Superbet outscored Auburn 23-14 in the third and led 60-55 entering the fourth quarter.
The Serbian club scored the first four points of the fourth to gain its largest lead of nine (64-55) with 7:44 remaining which forced Auburn into a timeout.
Out of that timeout, The Tigers responded with a 7-0 run capped by a putback dunk from Oboye to force a Superbet timeout with 5:55 left with the score 64-62.
Superbet had one final possession with a 70-68 lead and Auburn got the defensive stop it needed with seven seconds remaining. Williams grabbed the rebound, raced up the court and had a good look from straight on to win the game, but it was just off as the two teams split their two games in Mykonos.
“It was a great experience. We have really good film on the guys who were able to play,” Pearl said. “Not having the depth we currently have on the roster showed during the second game. If we had those guys things would have been different, but I think our guys really competed defensively. That is a talented group we played against. We came out of here injury free so those are the types of things you are looking in these foreign trips.”