12/30 at 12:48 AM

Tony Barbee sensed a bit of deflation in his team as it headed to overtime Wednesday night.

Auburn had built a 29-point lead, its biggest of the season, then blown it in spectacular fashion, with a Ben Drayton 3-pointer bringing Georgia Southern even at 76 and sucking the air out of the Auburn Arena with 5.5 seconds left.

“Their heads were hanging, and I could see it,” the Auburn coach said of his players before overtime. “So I jumped them. I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got five more minutes to go to win this game.’

“‘It’s winning time.’”

The Tigers made their coach a prophet, gathering themselves and holding off the Eagles for an 88-84 overtime win in front of 6,793 fans.

Auburn (5-7) enjoyed a 47-18 advantage in the first half and was up 28 early in the second before the Eagles (4-10) started their run.

The Tigers went cold in the second half, going scoreless for more than 6 minutes and letting the Eagles back into the game on a 15-0 run that cut the Tigers’ lead to 59-49 with 9:43 to go.

Georgia Southern outscored Auburn 42-17 during the final 14:35 of regulation.

“I guess we just got too complacent with the lead,” Auburn forward Kenny Gabriel said.

“And then once you give a team like that hope, that’s a powerful emotion. That’s how they got back in the game.”

Drayton nailed a heavily contested 3-pointer — the last of nine for the Eagles in the second half — to send the game to overtime.

The Tigers’ resurgence began with Frankie Sullivan.

Sullivan, playing in only his fourth game this season after tearing his ACL in July, drew a foul on a 3-pointer in the Tigers’ first overtime possession, hit two free throws, then coaxed a steal on the defensive end.

With 48 seconds left and the shot clock winding down, Sullivan shook a defender and nailed a jumper to put Auburn up 85-82.

“I can’t really beat anybody off the dribble,” Sullivan said. “Fortunately, I got in a little jab (step) – I wasn’t going anywhere. I was just going to take one dribble and pull up, but (the defender) went somewhere. I don’t know where he went.”

Georgia Southern had a chance to tie with 8 seconds left, but Eric Ferguson missed a jumper in the lane and Allen Payne secured the rebound and passed to Earnest Ross, who was fouled.

Ross, who scored a game-high 20 points, drained both free throws with 5.7 seconds to go to preserve the win.

“I would rather teach a team from winning a close game than losing a close game or moral victories, which I do not believe in,” Barbee said. “Any time you win, you can always teach from that.”

Ferguson led the Eagles with 19 points, Drayton and Zuri James had 18, and Rory Spencer added 11 in the loss. All of Drayton’s points came after halftime.

Gabriel scored 15 for Auburn, Rob Chubb had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Josh Langford netted 11.

Sullivan, in his second game starting, put in 17 points and is averaging 15.5 points per game as a starter.

“We can go to him as a team to make a shot whenever we need one,” Gabriel said of his roommate Sullivan.

“We’re glad that he’s back,” Gabriel said, rubbing Sullivan’s head after the game.
Sullivan’s return takes on even more importance with the exit of second-leading scorer

Andre Malone, who Barbee said chose to leave the team since the Tigers’ win over USC-Upstate on Dec. 21.

Malone averaged 11.7 points per game this season, but saw his minutes decrease since Sullivan’s return.

“Andre decided this was not the right fit for him, and I agree,” Barbee said. “So Andre’s going to be looking for another place to play. We wish him nothing but the best of luck.

“At the end of the day, I want guys who want to be here. He felt this wasn’t the right fit for him, and I wasn’t going to beg him to stay. So we wish him nothing but the best of luck.”

Forward Ty Armstrong, who tore his ACL in August, dressed out for the first time this season Wednesday.

Barbee said not to read too much into that.

“He is getting close, kind of like Frankie did,” the coach said. “He is practicing full-time, but he still does not quite have it physically.”

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