Frankie Sullivan landed, two feet on the floor, and yelled.

With Auburn down by as many as 21 points early in the first half, Sullivan wasn’t in pain, he was celebrating.

The junior guard, who was making just his second appearance this season after tearing his ACL over the summer, had just made his first basket of the night, sparking an Auburn rally midway through the second half to cut the Presbyterian lead to 7 points.

Sullivan then showed why his return to the Tigers’ lineup is so important, draining a 3-pointer minutes later. That one made it a 4-point game.

It showed just how far the junior has come.

But what followed showed just how far the Tigers (3-7) need to go, losing to Presbyterian, 62-59, on Saturday night in Auburn Arena. It was Auburn’s third consecutive loss.

“I told them I was proud of them for the way they fought back in the second half, but the game was lost in the first half,” Auburn head coach Tony Barbee said. “If we would have played with that intensity in the first half, the game could have went a different way.

“For 40 minutes, it’s got to be maximum output.”

Auburn had a chance to win or, at the very least, put the game into overtime, down by 2 with less than 5 seconds to play.

Sophomore guard Josh Wallace sprinted to the right lane and put up a running layup as the clock wound down. It was too hard, however, and bounced off the rim and backboard into the hands of Presbyterian forward Al’lonzo Coleman.

Coleman hit his first free throw with 1.3 seconds left to give the Blue Hose a 62-59 lead. He purposely missed the second attempt, leaving no time for Kenny Gabriel’s three-

quarter-court shot to tie.

“We’ve got moments of brilliance,” center Rob Chubb, who finished with a team-high 15 points, said. “When we’re locked in and we’re focusing and we’re playing as hard as we can, we can play with any team. Our problem is, we fall apart quickly and we don’t pick back up.”

After falling behind 30-9 with 6:52 to play in the first half in what the players called a “lack of effort” to start, the Tigers began to chip away at PC’s lead.

Auburn trailed by 15 heading into the break, but outscored Presbyterian by 12 points in the second half.

“First off we shouldn’t have been in that position,” Sullivan said. “We weren’t playing tough enough as a whole – as a team. You can’t let any team, I don’t care who you’re playing, get up on you 21 in the first half. Then waste all your energy trying to fight back in the second half. It kills you every time.”

Sullivan, who just five months ago had reconstructive knee surgery, finished with 5 points. But they were very monumental in the Tigers’ comeback.

“I felt pretty good actually,” said Sullivan, who added he’s about at 80 percent right now. “I felt the best I ever had playing tonight. Once I got into motion and moving, I stopped thinking about it and it felt pretty good.”

Presbyterian was lights out in the first half, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor. From behind the 3-point arc, the Blue Hose were just as hot, going 9-for-14 (64.3 percent).

The Tigers, on the other hand, shot just 27.6 percent in the first half.

PC was led by Khalid Mutakabbir’s game-high 17 points, including 3-for-4 from behind the arc. Three other Blue Hose finished with double figures: Coleman (13), Walt Allen (12) and Pierre Miller (10).

Gabriel was the only other Tiger in double figures. He finished with 10.

Auburn will host USC Upstate on Tuesday.

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