All hope looked lost after Mercer took a 74-73 lead with 3.8 seconds to go. Ria’n Holland completed an and-one to give the Bears a lead that looked to be for good. In mere seconds, depression turned to jubilation for Auburn.
T.J. Dunans hit a fade-away three from the corner as time expired to give Auburn a dramatic 76-74 win.
“Oh yeah, I knew it was going in,” Dunans said. “From where I shot it, I knew it was going in. It felt good. It was a great moment. I’m just glad we got the win.”
Dunans finished with a season-high 13 points, knocking down 4 of his 6 shots from the field including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
“He knows how to play. He’s not our best shooter, but he’s one of our toughest kids,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said.
Neither team could pull away through the game, with the largest lead of the game being just seven. The lead changed 16 times throughout, including three times in the final minute.
In his Auburn debut, five-star freshman Austin Wiley — who was cleared by the SEC on Friday — made a layup with 45 seconds left to give Auburn a 71-69 lead. Auburn then drew a Mercer offensive foul to get the ball back. Mustapha Heron converted one of two free throws to extend the Auburn lead to three with 22 seconds remaining, but Holland made a runner in the lane to cut the lead to one with 11 seconds to go. Heron then made just one of his two free throws which opened the door for Mercer.
Holland drove the length of the court for the Bears, and was fouled by Dunans after a goaltend was called on his layup. After a timeout, Holland calmly knocked down the free throw to give Mercer the lead. Auburn threw the ball to midcourt and used its final timeout with 1.4 seconds remaining.
“The last play, Coach (Chuck) Person drew it up,” Pearl said. “Those guys have a lot of side-outs in the NBA on short clocks. The play was for Jared (Harper) to set a little baseline screen for Dunans to bring him to the corner and come off a double pin-down at the top. The problem was Danjel (Purifoy) didn’t wait for Jared to get there, and he slipped down too soon. Jared curled and wasn’t open.”
“So, really, Mustapha didn't have anybody to throw the ball to. So he threw it to the tallest, next best available player, and that was Dunans in the corner. Obviously he made a memorable shot.”
Heron scored 19 of his team-leading 21 points in the second half, going 7-12 from the field. Junior TJ Lang scored 11 points for the Tigers, going 3-5 from beyond the arc.
Wiley scored nine points in his collegiate debut, making two of his five field goal attempts. The Hoover native went 5-8 from the free-throw line and grabbed three rebounds for the Tigers.
“I can’t tell you what the last couple of days have been like trying to prepare for that team, and trying to get Austin ready to play,” Pearl said. “When his teammates have been together for six months and he’s been with us for six hours. For him to have picked up on the things he needed to do in such a short period of time is remarkable.
"I don’t think he would even care how many points or rebounds he had. I think he just cares that, in his first game, Auburn won.”
After scoring 27 points in back-to-back games, Danjel Purifoy struggled to score Sunday, shooting just 1-8 from the field. He finished with seven points, going 5-6 from the free throw line. He also led the Tigers in rebounds, finishing with six.
“Great crowd, great atmosphere,” Pearl said. “These are the kinds of games you have to win to have a memorable season, potentially memorable season. It’s hard to get eight wins in the non-conference, especially against the schedule we are playing. We feel, obviously, very fortunate.”
Mercer (5-6) outrebounded Auburn 41-26, including 16 offensive rebounds. Pearl had nothing but good things to say about Mercer after the game.
“I want to congratulate Mercer,” Pearl said. “They deserved to win. Neither team deserved to lose, but they really deserved to win. Those kids made big shots and their stuff is really hard to guard. Bob Hoffman is one of the best coaches in college basketball.”
Holland led all scorers with 24 points to go along with six rebounds. Jordan Strawberry had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Bears.
Auburn (8-2) returns to action on Wednesday as they travel to Uncasville, Conn. to take on Oklahoma in Basketball Hall of Fame’s Birthday of Basketball. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CST on the CBS Sports Network.
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