Auburn Basketball Defeats George Washington 83-71

[AUSportTalk 4]

Auburn Basketball Defeats George Washington 83-71 Coming Back From

15-Point Halftime Deficit

    AUBURN----Auburn came back from a 15-point halftime deficit to

double up George Washington in the second half for an 83-71 victory in

Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Saturday.  Tay Waller scored 19 points and

Frankie Sullivan had 17 points on 4-of-7 three-pointers to lead the

Tigers.

    It was a tale of two halves as the Tigers (2-1) trailed 44-29 at

intermission after the Colonials (2-1) shot 57 percent from the field

and 59 percent (10-of-17) from 3-point range. In the second half, Auburn

limited George Washington to only 33 percent shooting from the field and

22 percent (2-of-9) from 3-point range.

    Auburn outscored George Washington 54-27 in the second half

mostly by turning a 51-41 deficit  almost six minutes into a 54-53 Tiger

lead, capping a 12-3 Auburn run on a Tay Waller 3-pointer with 10

minutes to play.  It was Auburn*s first lead since 20-17 with eight

minutes in the first half.

    *By the second half, we really got going, especially

offensively,* said Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo. *Frankie Sullivan

and Tay Waller got going a little bit more with their outside shooting.

We played them a lot together down the stretch. It was a good lesson for

our team, 15 points is not very much. College basketball can evaporate,

whether you*re up or down by 15 very quickly. I really liked our

defensive intensity most of the second half. I thought George Washington

had a hard time getting anything going offensively.*

    Trailing by one, Auburn went on an 8-1 mini-run to go up 64-57

with six minutes left.  After GW closed to within two a minute later,

Auburn scored eight straight points for a 72-62 lead, the last bucket on

Waller*s fifth 3-pointer of the game with 2:43 remaining.

    *It feels good to come back from 15 points down like we

did,* said Waller. *In the first half, we weren*t playing very

well and got outrebounded. In the second half, we came back focused. We

came in with the mentality of the game being 0-0. Coach told us at

halftime, *We have to pick it up. If we don*t pick it up, we*re

going to lose like we did against Mercer.* Everybody picked it up on

defense, boxed out and we started getting all the rebounds.*

    The final minutes were a stark contrast from last Wednesday*s

78-74 loss to Mercer when Auburn missed 6-of-8 free throws in the final

7:20.  Against George Washington, Auburn drained 14-of-17 foul shots in

the final 4:15 as the Colonials started fouling intentionally with three

minutes to play.  After being outrebounded by 25 against Mercer, the

Tigers had a 37-26 edge on the Colonials even after being outrebounded

by three at the half.

    With Auburn leading 20-17, George Washington outscored Auburn

16-3 for a 33-23 edge with 8:17 left in the first half.  The Tigers

didn*t score for the final 5:49 of the first half.

    Lucas Hargrove added 13 points and six rebounds for Auburn,

Korvotney Barber had 11 points and six boards and DeWayne Reed nine

points, four assists, three rebounds and only one turnover, his first

this season.  The Tigers shot 44 percent (22-of-50) from the field, 43

percent (12-of-29) from 3-point range and 75 percent (27-of-36) from the

foul line.

    Damian Hollis led GW with 16 points while Tony Taylor had 13

points and Travis King and Noel Wilmore 12 points apiece.  Wilmore

scored all 12 of his points in the first half, making 4-of-5

three-pointers and missed his only attempt in the second half.

    Auburn returns to action as it plays host to Bethune-Cookman  in

the Chicago Invitational second round Tuesday at 7 pm Central in

Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Nov. 22, 2008