The Cougars outscored Auburn 50-23 in the second half after being down by ten at halftime.
The No. 9 seed Auburn Tigers had faith that they could upset the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars after they took a 10-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
However, a stellar second-half effort by Houston mixed in with a difficult night at the free throw line push the Cougars to a 81-64 win to eliminate the Auburn from the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars committed 25 personal fouls, which allowed Auburn 36 opportunites for easy points from the free throw lines. However, Auburn was able to connect on just 52.8% of their free throws, making 19 of their 36 chances.
Auburn used a late run to go ahead 41-31 at halftime. The Tigers shot 55% from the field and dominated the paint by outscoring Houston, 22-10 from close range. But the Cougars blew past Auburn in the second half by outscoring them, 50-23.
Both teams shot 45% from the field through the first five minutes of the game, with Houston holding the advantage, 15-10 with 14:20 remaining in the first half. The benefit was two three-pointers and three makes from the free throw stripe for Houston, where Auburn failed to make their lone three-point attempt and did not try a free throw in that stretch.
Auburn would score five quick points on a three-pointer by [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag] and a dunk by [autotag]Dylan Cardwell[/autotag] to cut the Houston lead to 16-15 with 12:10 left in the half.
Houston worked to build a five-point lead, but thanks to [autotag]Tre Donaldson[/autotag], the Tigers took their first lead inside the 10-minute mark of the half. He connected on back-to-back three-pointers in just under a minute’s span to give Auburn a 22-21 lead.
The Cougars controlled the next four minutes by leading by as much as three points before Auburn came back to grab their second lead of the game. [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] both connected on three-pointers to give Auburn a 30-27 lead with four minutes left in the half. [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] would also make both free throws to extend Auburn’s lead to 32-27.
To close the half, Auburn went on a 9-4 run to take a 10-point lead into the locker room.
Houston stole all of Auburn’s first-half momentum and turned it into a 12-4 run through the first four minutes of the half to cut Auburn’s 10-point halftime lead to 45-43. Houston’s Tramon Mark began the half with a layup, and Marcus Sasser’s three-point jumper closed the gap to two points. Auburn also made just one of their first eight shots of the half after connecting on 55% of their shots in the first half.
After a stretch of nearly four scoreless minutes, Houston regained the lead on a Sasser three-pointer to put them back in front, 46-45. The score gave Houston their first lead since the 6:15 mark in the first half.
Under eight minutes to go, Houston built a five-point lead, 56-51. The Cougars opened the half by outscoring Auburn, 25-10, to that point, and caused Auburn to go scoreless from the field for over ten minutes.
Houston continued to speed past the Tigers as the half continued. The Cougars took a 10-point lead, 66-56, with 4:48 in the half, and would not let their lead dip below 10 over the final 1:39.
Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams led the team in points with 14 each, Allen Flanigan was next with 10 points, he also led the team in boards with nine.
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