Auburn falls in close game at Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Auburn team that took the floor against No. 22 Mississippi State on Saturday seemed different than the one that had been bogged down with offensive troubles for the entirety of the SEC season.

This Tigers team ran, and was able to match the Bulldogs nearly shot-for-shot despite surrendering 60.4 percent shooting.

This Tigers team made sound decisions in the halfcourt, tying a single-game program record with only three turnovers.

This Tigers team scored, putting up only 11 fewer points in the first half than its per-game average in eight SEC games coming in.

But this Tigers team also lost, never overcoming a Bulldogs run to start the second half and falling, 91-88, setting season highs for points scored and allowed against SEC competition in the process.

By a long shot: Auburn’s previous highs were 69 (points scored, in a double-overtime win over Ole Miss) and 68 (points allowed).

Head coach Tony Barbee said, despite all appearances, it wasn’t a different Tigers team at all.

Its shots were just falling.

“Nothing changed with how we wanted to play,” Barbee said. “Hopefully this kind of output offensively will lead to more confidence and spark more offensive production like this.”

Auburn (13-10, 3-6 SEC), a team that averaged 54.9 points per game in the first half of the SEC season, put up 40-plus in the first half for the first time since a win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 28, with a Kenny Gabriel 3-pointer right before the horn sending the Tigers into the locker room up 44-43.

Gabriel finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the season, and was only upstaged by Varez Ward’s career-high 24 points.

But Auburn, while it had no trouble scoring the ball, was also uncharacteristically ineffective on defense.

Bulldogs guard Dee Bost knocked down three straight 3-pointers to start the second half and scored 11 points in a 16-4 Mississippi State run over 4:03 that ended on a 3-pointer by former Auburn signee Jalen Steele to extend the lead to 59-48 with 14:33 to go.

Mississippi State finished 12-of-19 from beyond the arc with Bost (4-of-6, 15 points), Steele (3-of-6, 13 points) and Rodney Hood (3-of-5, 11 points) the prime offenders.

“Most of them I'd say was defensive breakdowns, but I can recall sometimes when we had our hands in their face and they still knocked them down,” Gabriel said. “When you get a shooter going, it doesn't matter if your hand is down or your hand is in his face.

“If he gets hot, more than likely it's going to go in.”

Auburn also had its hands full covering the Bulldogs’ interior duo of 6-foot-11 Arnett Moultrie and 6-10 Renardo Sidney.

Moultrie, who played two years under Barbee at UTEP, finished with 21 points and Sidney added 17.

And it was Moultrie that dealt the death blow to Auburn’s comeback chances.

Ward kept the Tigers in the game for much of the second half with his aggressive drives and finishes, and Auburn had a chance to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 3 with 1:56 to go when Frankie Sullivan got four free throws thanks to a personal and technical foul.

Sullivan, who finished with 16 points, hit only two of the free throws and Moultrie answered on the other end with a 3-point play, putting Mississippi State up 84-76 with 1:40 to go.

“They've got the perimeter, they've got the inside,” Barbee said. “You've got to take something away, and unfortunately we didn't take either away tonight.”

Allen Payne, starting his third straight game in place of the injured Josh Langford, scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Tigers.

Ward, though Barbee was hesitant to admit it, said Auburn placed an extra emphasis on pace going into Saturday’s game.

It may be a strategy — if the Tigers can muster the defensive effort to match it — they’ll look at more down the road.

“Lately, we've been wanting to push the ball because we've been struggling scoring in the halfcourt,” Ward said. “I think it worked for us because of the athletic players that we have.

“I think it will be a good look for us to keep doing."