AU HOOPS: Tigers win sixth in last seven, take over second in West

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson made the backdoor cut to the hoop, took the pass with no one within feet of him and went up for the two-handed dunk.

Some Auburn players were already headed back down the floor, but the groan from the 7,134 fans Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum made them pause. The ball shimmied around the rim and popped into DeWayne Reed’s hands.

“That’s about where the shoe rolled,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “From that point on, we ran in quicksand for the rest of the night.”

Rasheem Barrett knocked down a mid-range jumper 13 seconds later with 14:19 to play in the first half and Auburn never trailed again.

The Tigers didn’t exactly walk on water from that point forward, but they put forth their most balanced game of the year to run away with a 76-58 victory in one of their least favorite places to play.

The win, Auburn’s sixth in its last seven, put the Tigers in sole possession of second place in the SEC West with two regular season games to play. Auburn needs to win just once or have both Alabama and MSU each lose to clinch second place, which translates into a first-round bye for the SEC Tournament.

“In previous years, we were always at the bottom of the SEC, and now we are playing at the end of the year for something,” junior forward Lucas Hargrove said. “We aren’t just playing to be playing now. We are playing for postseason hope.”

Hargrove led Auburn’s dominance from the bench with 12 points and one highlight-reel alley-oop with 6:03 to play that effectively ended an eight-game losing streak at Humphrey Coliseum, sent the majority of MSU fans to the doors and set the Tigers up for their most lopsided victory in Starkville.

“Any time we can hush them up a little bit, it does a lot for our basketball team,” Hargrove said. “Great risk, great reward.”

Hargrove, Frankie Sullivan and Brendon Knox combined for 36 points on 15-of-22 shooting off the Auburn bench. Mississippi State countered with zero.

The trio’s effort more than made up for a down night from Auburn’s top three scorers. Korvotney Barber, Tay Waller and Reed combined for 22 points — more than 17 less than their combined average for the season.

“When you have that kind of balance, it’s hard to focus on certain people,” coach Jeff Lebo said. “I liked our balance and we got a little bit from everyone tonight.”

While Hargrove brought energy and athleticism both inside and outside the paint, Knox presented a tricky matchup for MSU bigman Jarvis Varnado.

Knox went right after the lanky, 6-foot-9 shot-blocker, rendering the bulk of his five field goals to be short on style points.

“Brendon is a little awkward when he gets in there,” Lebo said with a smile as he put his arm around Knox. “I think that helped him more than anything tonight against Varnado because he didn’t know where it was coming from.”

Sullivan, meanwhile, hurt the Bulldogs with great timing.

Two of Sullivan’s three 3-pointers came directly after an Auburn offensive rebound from a missed free throw. The first capped a 5-point play of sorts to put the Tigers up double-digits for the rest of the first half.

Sullivan finished with 14 points to lead all Auburn scorers. None of Auburn’s five starters played more than 29 minutes.

“Our play off the bench was terrific,” Lebo said. “I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Mississippi State’s cold shooting throughout also played a major role, as the Bulldogs shot 35 percent from the field and knocked down just nine of their 30 3-point attempts.

“That,” Lebo said, “was certainly a big factor.”

Stansbury adamantly and repeatedly said Lebo was the factor, as he singled out Auburn beat reporters in the post-game press conference and demanded that Lebo’s preparation should be the headline for the story of Auburn’s biggest win to date.

“(Auburn) and LSU,” Stansbury said, “are probably the two best teams in the league right now.”

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