Auburn Men's Basketball (11-11, 2-5 SEC) defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide (13-8, 3-4 SEC) 58-57 Saturday at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
Auburn senior guard DeWayne Reed struck first, hitting two shots after being sent to the foul line by Alabama junior forward Chris Hines.
The Crimson Tide took the lead with nine minutes to go, however, finishing off the half with a 27-24 lead.
"I think this is the best defensive Alabama team we've played so far," said Auburn senior forward Lucas Hargrove. "You have to give them a lot of credit, they're a good ball club."
Senior guard Tay Waller helped the Tigers make a game of it, however, scoring a game-high 20 points, nine of which came from behind the 3-point line.
"This is one of my best overall games," Waller said. "Everyone was waiting for the offense and defense to come together and it did. I felt like if I stepped up defensively in transition and our offense would flow more smoothly and it did tonight."
With 13 minutes to go Alabama senior guard Mikhail Torrance gave the Crimson Tide its largest lead at 40-33, but Auburn stayed aggressive. Reed's free throw tied the game at 57-57. He missed the second but stole the ball from Torrance at half court to set up the game-winning Lucas Hargrove free throw with 3.1 seconds to play.
"We dug down deep playing aggressive," said Auburn sophomore guard Frankie Sullivan. "DeWayne made a gutsy move trying to steal the ball at half court. Any other time coach would have gone crazy, but he got the steal."
The win gives Auburn two wins in conference play and moves the Tigers' record against Alabama to six wins in the teams' last seven meetings.
"I'm just awfully proud of my team," said Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo. "They defended really well in this game for 40 minutes. We did have some turnovers that resulted in points for them, but we just found a way to gut it out, make some stops, make some plays and win the game."
Auburn will face Arkansas in Fayetteville at 12:47 p.m. next Saturday, Feb. 6.
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