Senior forward Korvotney Barber (left) battles with Missouri State’s Wade Knapp for the opening tip off Friday night.: Barber led the Tigers in points with 22. JD Schein / PHOTO EDITOR
After losing its season opener last year, the Auburn basketball team started the 2008-09 season off on a better foot by defeating visiting Missouri State 76-60 Friday night.
“They’re a good basketball team that is used to winning,” head coach Jeff Lebo said after the game. “They weren’t going to go away, but we did a good job moving the ball around and getting some points in the paint.”
The Tigers trailed by seven in the first quarter but pulled ahead 34-25 at halftime.
With about 10 minutes to go in the game, the Bears cut the Auburn lead to one at 52-51, but Auburn went on an 11-2 run to get the 16-point win.
Senior forward Korvotney Barber made 10 of his 14 field goals and scored 22 points to lead the Tigers in the victory.
“They’re a pretty good team, they made us defend for the whole shot clock,” Barber said. “I’m kind of winded, but I think we did pretty good as a team overall.”
By using the majority of the shot clock on most of its possessions, the Bears tried to shorten the game and wear out the Tigers.
“They weren’t going to shoot quick,” Lebo said. “They were going to run a pattern offense, what we call a flex offense, they ran a little bit of a motion offense, and were very deliberate in making us defend the entire shot clock. What happens with that, they’re just looking for a break down and just waiting.”
Missouri State was led by senior Chris Cooks, who scored 18 points for the Bears.
“(Auburn) did a good job of adjusting and being physical by taking away our first and second options, but we did a poor job of executing,” said Missouri State head coach Cuonzo Martin, who is in his first year coaching the Bears.
Lebo, who enters his fifth season at Auburn, acknowledged the value of playing a team like Missouri State.
“I told our team at halftime that this was great, it’s going to be like a 40-minute defensive drill,” Lebo said. “They don’t like that too much but I liked it. It was good for us to play a team like this that’s disciplined and tough.”
Junior forward Lucas Hargrove led Auburn with five assists and added 13 points to the effort.
Hargrove said he thought his team played better defensively against Missouri State than it did in the exhibition against Morehouse Nov. 7.
“In the exhibition game, we scored a lot of points, but defensively we were terrible,” Hargrove said. “Today, we held them to 60 points and that is good for a great Missouri State team that can shoot like that.”
The Bears shot 44 percent from the field, 48 percent from the 3-point line and 60 percent from the free throw line.
The Tigers shot 56 percent from the field and 31 percent from the 3-point line.
Auburn’s weakness was at the free throw line, as the Tigers made just 14 of their 28 attempts.
The Tigers next face the George Washington Colonials at 1 p.m. Saturday at home.
