It was a historic night in Auburn Arena, as head coach Bruce Pearl earned the 500th victory of his career in a 78-74 victory over LSU.
But before Pearl could hold a framed Auburn jersey with number 500 across the chest, he had to coach a game that was up and down for the Tigers from Auburn throughout.
"I'm really glad they didn't have to hide this banner in the closet for a few weeks," joked Pearl. "I had no idea that they were going to do all this. I’m obviously grateful."
Auburn was led by freshman Mustapha Heron and senior T.J. Dunans, who both had 12 points in the contest. Austin Wiley and Horace Spencer, who both started in the contest, had 10 points, while other big man Anfernee McLemore had a career-high 11 points. McLemore was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and added four rebounds.
“I was glad I had the opportunity to help Coach Pearl get his 500th win,” McLemore said. “Going in we didn’t emphasize that it was his 500th but made sure we paid a lot of attention on defensive rebounding.”
It was a much needed win for Pearl's Tigers, but it was ugly at times. Auburn started hot, but gave up a 19-4 run which put LSU up by 11 midway through the first half. Auburn battled back quickly, and led by as much a 15 in the second half thanks to a 20-2 Tiger run.
The drama did not end.
Auburn came out of break and opened the half on a 22-10 run, but the Tigers from Baton Rouge would once again claw back.
LSU was led by Aaron Epps who had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Tigers. It looked as if his Tigers could take the lead while on a 15-2 run in the second half, but Wiley soon ended the Auburn scoring drought with a pair of free throws.
Epps and LSU would not be enough to stop Auburn down the stretch.
Back to back threes from Bryce Brown, excellent game management from Ronnie Johnson and nearly perfect free throw shooting earned Auburn their 12th victory of the season. Brown finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Johnson followed with seven points and three rebounds. The Tigers were 19-22 from the charity stripe.
Auburn improved to 12-6 on the season and 2-4 in the conference, while LSU fell to 9-8 overall and 1-5 in league play.
“We’ll enjoy this one tonight,” Pearl said.
Auburn welcomes in-state rival Alabama to Auburn Arena on Thursday as they look to earn another conference win. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. CST, and action can be seen on ESPN2.
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