"There were a lot of different things working against us," said Auburn Head Coach Tony Barbee. "We weren't making shots. We were turning the ball over... My guys could have easily folded up the tent with all that adversity around them."
But the Tigers didn't fold their tents defeating the Ole Miss Rebels in a double overtime thriller 69 -68 in the Auburn Arena today.
The victory gave Auburn's it's11th win this year, matching the team's win total for the entire 2010 season
Auburn (11-6, 1-2) led the game 55 - 46 with 2:07 to go but the Rebels starting making 3-pointers and tied it up 57 -57 to force the game into overtime.
The first overtime ended tied at 65. In the second overtime Center Rob Chubb, who had been in foul trouble all afternoon, fouled out just seconds into the period.
Then Guard Frankie Sullivan's took over making two clutch foul shots to put the Tigers ahead 67-65 with about 4 minutes left. With 2 minutes and 54 seconds, Chris Denson hit two free throws to give Auburn a 69-66 lead.
Ole Miss's Reginald Buckner made a dunk with 34 seconds remaining to make it a one point game at 69-68. Then Jarvis Summers' stole the ball, went to make the game winning shot only to have it blocked by Kenny Gabriel with six seconds to go. Rebel Terrence Henry missed a tip-in and Frankie Sullivan got the rebound to seal the deal for the Orange and Blue.
It was the Tigers' first double overtime win in 21 years when Auburn defeated Georgia in 1991 in Athens 59-58.
Auburn shot 66% in free throws, going 18- 9 from the foul line. Chris Denson had 16 points for the game. Kenny Gabriel added 11 points, with 13 rebounds and four blocks; a career best. But you really have to be proud for Frankie Sullivan who for the last six games had been averaging only 5.7 points and came through with 19 - all after the first half. He also had four steels, four assist, and the game winning rebound.
Barbee said he was proud of all of his Tigers for the way they scraped and didn't give up ...
"That is part of the growing up process. With all that adversity, you still have to find a way to tough it out and still win by doing it together - and that is what we did."