Auburn falls to Texas A&M in heartbreaking fashion 90-88 to fall to 0-2 in conference play. The game seemed to be in the Aggies’ hands following a late surge to put them up double digits with under three minutes remaining, but the Tigers clawed back to make it a two-point deficit with just 0.6 seconds left and a chance to inbound the ball.
"I don't have a clear understanding still," Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said about the final call, "so I still have to gather information."
Auburn would throw the ball in to Keyshawn Murphy who let a near half-court shot fly which went in resulting in the Tigers’ bench storming the court in celebration as they believed they had won 91-90. The play would go to replay review who ultimately and controversially determined that Murphy let the ball go after time expired awarding Texas A&M the win to the disappointment of the both the Auburn crowd and team.
The Tigers came out of the gate slow getting down eight points early but quickly jumped back into the game with the help of stars Keyshawn Hall and Tahaad Pettiford. Throughout the first half the game was back and forth with many of the Aggies’ points coming down low as they scored 16 of their 37 points in the paint. The Tigers took all the Momentum back when Sebastian Williams-Adams hit a three to put them up six and Auburn never looked back in the first half taking in a 10-point halftime lead and an eventual 16-point lead.
The standout Keyshawn Hall yet again dominated getting an impressive 17 points in the first half with 32 points total on the night. Many of his points came from his favorite spot at the free throw line where he went a solid 13-for-16. Hall also got a collection of his points from the 3-point line going 3-for-5 beyond the arc.
Turnovers were also a heavy theme throughout the game with both teams combing for 27 turnovers and 43 points off those turnovers. The trend started as soon as the game started with five turnovers being committed in the first 2 minutes of game time. The Tigers would barely win that battle in the end as they totaled one more turnover but 22 points off turnovers to the Aggies’ 21.
The tide turned strongly in the Aggies’ favor when Auburn failed to get the inbound successfully in on three straight attempts in the span of about 30 seconds resulting in back-to-back threes for Texas A&M which were also followed by an “and one” layup accounting for nine points of the 11-0 run the Aggies had midway through the second half. The Bucky McMillan led Texas A&M Aggies would ride that momentum to a huge comeback following a 33-6 run in route to a lead of 12.
With just under three minutes remaining Auburn would try to mount a comeback against the Aggies cutting the lead to just five with around a minute and a half left but a deep three from Texas A&M’s Ruben Dominguez would appear to put hopes to rest until a late effort by the Tigers. The game would ultimately end in one of the most insane fashions possible with a wild comeback, unlikely buzzer-beater, and a controversial overturning of the call.
Auburn will continue to be in search of their first SEC victory as they host Arkansas in Neville Arena on Saturday at 5:00 C.S.T.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
