BC 4-6 Auburn: 1st Half—17:36
KT Harrell picks up a sloppy rebound that Eddie Odio had batted away. He runs down the center right of the floor. Harrell, the junior from Montgomery, Al., had already nailed a three on his team’s previous possession.
Allen Payne is to his left and Tahj Shamsid-Deen is on his right. He sees Asauhn Dixon-Tatum in the post, but in the foreground, Joe Rahon waits on the arc in a defensive stance. Harrell is 6-foot-4 and Rahon is 6-foot-2. The Auburn guard spots his BC counterpart and decides he has the advantage. Harrell pulls up and helps Auburn open the game three-for-three from behind the arc.
BC 14-15 Auburn: 1st Half—10:59
Harrell had just knocked down another 3-pointer.
Rahon brings the ball up the floor calmly. Lonnie Jackson is standing to the right and Garland Owens cut across the court from the left side. Jackson moves to the middle and Rahon tosses the ball to the freshman. Owens gives it back to Jackson, who has backtracked to the Auburn logo. As Ryan Anderson lurks in the left corner, he makes eye contact with Patrick Heckmann.
Anderson goes to the basket as Heckmann continues his run to the wing. Jackson passes the ball to the forward. Heckmann steps back and pump-fakes, but Payne doesn’t bite. Tracked by Payne, Heckmann drives to the hoop, and instead of going to the rack, the forward uses an over-the-head pass to find Anderson on his left in the low-post. Heckmann’s teammate of three years puts the Eagles in front with a thunderous dunk.
BC 24-34 Auburn: 1st Half—6.5 seconds
The Tigers had held the Eagles to eight points in the period’s last 10 minutes when Shamsid-Deen dishes the ball to Harrell. Facing the basket, he looks for another 3-pointer to topple BC over before the break. But Owens steps, and Harrell decides not to shoot, instead finding Shamsid-Deen again.
The freshman point guard plants a foot forward, but pulls back, fooling Rahon. As the 5-foot-10 freshman fires and fades away, his stroke leaves the ball floating to the rim. Rahon turns around with the other eight players on the floor and faces the basket.
As Shamsid-Deen held his left arm up, and Rahon looked on, the ball dropped through the hoop making Auburn eight of 14 from behind the arc in the first half.
BC 47-58 Auburn: 2nd Half—9:39
Eddie Odio is at the line to shoot two free throws. After trailing by as much as 20 points, a 9-2 Olivier Hanlan-inspired run has helped the Eagles pull within 11 points of the Tigers. As Odio steps up to the line, the building comes to a stop. The shot clock on the other side of the floor has shut down. The Auburn Arena crew tried to find a fix but failed to do so. As a result, the team brought a new basket onto the floor. During the 15-minute intermission, BC head coach Steve Donahue talked to his team, while Auburn waited out the delay. Come the end of the break, Odio went back to the line, missing the first free throw, before salvaging the second.
BC 64-75 Auburn: 2nd Half – 46.1 seconds
The game was over. Hanlan came on strong in the second half, finishing the afternoon with 28 points. Even though the game was lost, the Eagles continued to forge ahead in hopes of a miracle. Rahon dribbled the ball up the floor and sped up after hitting the Auburn 3-point line. With his right hand, he slung the ball side-armed to an open Sam Donahue in the left corner. As his coach always says, players must receive the ball ready to shoot. Donahue was ready to fire and he did. With a clear view of the basket, he launched his shot. A clunker off the side of the backboard. Then, 15 seconds of play later, Donahue drained one. It was too little too late for the Eagles.
Final: BC 67-77 Auburn
