National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Auburn 61, Texas Southern 60
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, Alabama
Officials: # Jeff Clark, # Antinio Petty, # Ted Valentine
Attendance: 7323

Auburn 61, Texas Southern 60: Cinmeon Bowers had 13 points, 15 rebounds and a key steal as host Auburn rallied from a double-digit deficit for the second straight game in a battle of Tigers.

K.C. Ross-Miller drained two free throws with 14 seconds left to give Auburn (6-5) a 61-60 lead, and after a held ball with four ticks went to Texas Southern (2-9), Bowers stole the inbounds pass and Chris Thomas' 75-foot heave after Bowers missed a free throw wasn't close. Auburn scored five straight points, the last on a layup by KT Harrell for a 59-58 lead, but Bowers fouled Deverell Biggs going for a rebound and Biggs hit both for a 60-59 Texas Southern lead.

Harrell scored 14 points for Auburn, which came back from 14 down in a 99-98 win over Xavier in double-overtime Saturday. Bowers was 4-of-12 from the floor and 5-of-11 from the line but added three steals, three blocks and five offensive rebounds as Auburn won its third straight game.

Jason Carter had 16 points and three steals off the bench for Texas Southern, which stunned Michigan State 71-64 in overtime on Saturday. Madarious Gibbs had 13 points and Thomas added 11 points and five assists as Texas Southern led by 11 in the first half and seven in the second.

Carter started a 9-0 burst with a 3-pointer that provided Texas Southern a 17-10 lead, and Carter added another to restore a five-point edge with 3:19 left before Auburn got a three-point play from Alex Thompson and a 3-pointer by Antoine Mason to get within 28-27 at the half. Carter started an 8-0 run with a dunk almost three minutes into the second half that pushed the lead to 11, drained a shot from the arc with 8:05 left to restore a 51-44 edge, and Webb's 3-pointer with 2:45 left gave Texas Southern a 58-54 lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Texas Southern is 1-5 in a stretch of 10 straight road games. … Bowers has seven double-doubles this season. … Mason went over 2,000 points in his career between Niagara and Auburn.

Top Game Performances
 
Texas Southern   Auburn
Jason Carter 16 Scoring KT Harrell 14
Chris Thomas 5 Assists Malcolm Canada 4
Madarious Gibbs 6 Rebounds Cinmeon Bowers 15
Madarious Gibbs 6 Free Throws Made Cinmeon Bowers 5
Chris Thomas 6 Steals Cinmeon Bowers 3
Nick Shepherd 3 Blocks Cinmeon Bowers 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Texas Southern 60 41.8 4-13 10-13 12 33 6 12 18
Auburn 61 35.7 6-21 15-23 12 28 5 11 15