For the second time in four days, an opposing big man got free in the paint in the final seconds and sent Auburn to a crushing SEC defeat.

On Wednesday, it was Alabama’s JaMychal Green, crashing the boards on a Tony Mitchell missed layup and tipping in the winning points with 0.3 seconds to go.

Saturday, Arkansas’ Delvon Johnson played the role, getting wide open after setting two screens and slamming home the dagger with 5.0 seconds to go in a 57-55 win over the Tigers in front of 7,206 fans at Auburn Arena.

Josh Wallace had time to dribble past halfcourt and heave up a 35-footer at the buzzer, but it banked hard and harmlessly off the backboard.

“It is draining,” said Wallace, who finished with 9 points and five assists. “We want to win and it hurts, especially the last one against Alabama. You really want that one when you play for Auburn.”

While the Alabama loss came as a slow drain for Auburn (9-19, 2-12 SEC) after building a 15-point lead, the homestanding Tigers were the ones clawing back into the game against Arkansas (18-10, 7-7) on Saturday.

The Razorbacks led by as many as 13 in the first half and went into the break up 27-20 after a desperation 3-pointer from Wallace at the buzzer – one that looked to be coming up a bit short – was goaltended by an Arkansas defender and emphatically counted by the referee.

Arkansas built its lead back up to 13 in the second half and led by 7 with 3:50 to go before the Tigers made things interesting.

Kenny Gabriel hit a high-arching 3-pointer from way downtown to cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 55-51, and Rob Chubb got post position on an inbounds pass and banked in a layup to cut the lead with 2 with 1:21 to go.

After the Tigers forced a shot-clock violation on Arkansas, Wallace found a cutting Gabriel wide open near the hole, and the Auburn forward laid it in to tie the game at 55 with 28.1 seconds to go.

Auburn held Arkansas scoreless for 3:44 before Johnson’s dunk to win it.

“We executed our tails off offensively down the stretch,” Tigers coach Tony Barbee said. “We executed our tails off defensively down the stretch, except for the very last play. We broke down.”

Johnson set two screens for Razorbacks leading scorer Rotnei Clarke, who finished with a game-high 17, on the play, forcing Gabriel and Chris Denson to switch.

Gabriel said Denson got a little caught up on one of the screens, and Julysses Nobles found Johnson for the flush.

“I told the guys even though that play happened, we lost this game a long time ago because of the way we started,” Barbee said. “We started slow and now you find yourself trying to dig yourself out of a hole. I’m proud of the guys for the way they fought back, but we lost this game way before the last play.”

Marcus Britt scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Razorbacks, and Gabriel scored 13 for Auburn to go with Earnest Ross’ 11 points and seven rebounds.

After losing two games by a combined 48 points, the Tigers have experienced the other end of the spectrum the past two times out.

“There is no quit in this team,” Barbee said. “That is what we have to be about as our foundation. We are coming at you, and if we lose it is because we ran out of time, not because we gave up.

“We made the plays. We made the stops. We made the plays offensively to give ourselves a chance. When your margin of error is very small, all it takes is one play to break down.”

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