As he addressed the media in his postgame press conference, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl leaned back in his chair and threw his arms in the air, one after the other, as if he was juggling.
He was juggling his hypothetical lineups and imagining what could have been.
Small forward Danjel Purifoy has not yet been cleared by the NCAA, and point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen was on a minutes limit in his return to action after dislocating his right shoulder against Northwestern State.
Auburn’s starting shooting guard TJ Lang, left the game with an ankle injury within the first five minutes, and Kareem Canty, the Tigers’ point guard who entered the game in the top eight in the SEC in seven statistical categories, fell to the floor with an ankle injury with 11:15 left in the game.
Pearl, along with the 8,033 fans at Auburn Arena, held his breath.
“It looked like (Canty) broke his leg," Pearl said. "It looked like we were going to have to get a stretcher, call an ambulance. I’m sure it hurt, but it looked like he was out for the year.”
Fortunately for Auburn, Canty missed only 52 seconds of game time, and he went on to lead the Tigers in scoring for the second consecutive game. Cinmeon Bowers and Tyler Harris added a double-double each to help Auburn stave off a late Mercer comeback, winning 78-71.
The Bears (8-2) jumped out to a 27-21 lead in the first half, but Auburn (5-2) closed the half on an 11-4 run, which was capped off by a thunderous dunk by T.J. Dunans with four seconds left.
After struggling in the first few minutes of the second half against Middle Tennessee State in their last game, the Tigers came out of the locker room on a 15-5 run to stretch their lead to a game-high 11.
Mercer started to chip into the lead, and then Canty went down after a drive to the basket.
The junior went straight to the locker room, but he limped back onto the floor a few minutes later.
“He’ll really be sore tomorrow,” Pearl said. “They just brought that thing in here, taped it up tight, and he was able to go. Obviously he made game-winning plays when he had to.”
Mercer cut the Auburn lead to one with 1:53 remaining, but Canty replicated his late-game heroics against MTSU, nailing a three with 29 seconds left despite a hand in his face.
“That’s his shot, so he’s probably made about a half a dozen of those this year,” Pearl said. “He’s able to get to the line and pull. You watch the bench. They just think that ball’s going in. … He’s a very dangerous offensive player.”
Bowers capped off the win with two dunks, which, along with two Canty free throws, provided the final margin.
Auburn will travel to Cincinnati on Saturday to face Xavier, which is ranked 10th in the nation and No. 1 in the RPI. The Tigers defeated the Musketeers, 89-88, in double overtime last season at Auburn Arena.
“I’m sure that they’re excited about us coming back,” Pearl said. “It’ll be a great challenge against a great program.”
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