SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Lucas Hargrove scored 24 points, but turnovers and cold shooting from long range were too much for Auburn's basketball team to overcome Monday night.
The Tigers, who rallied late to win their home opener, went down 73-62 to Missouri State at JQH Arena. It was the second straight season the Bears have defeated a Southeastern Conference opponent in their home opener. They beat Arkansas last season.
Auburn had 25 turnovers to just eight assists and was 5-of-24 from 3-point range.
"I thought Missouri State played awfully well in their home opener," Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. "I thought it was pretty evident our turnovers were the big difference in the game. Eight assists and 25 turnovers will get you beat. Shooting the basketball 5-of-24 from 3-point range will get you beat on most nights, especially on the road."
Missouri State (1-0) had a 7-4 lead almost four minutes into the game,
but Auburn went on a 14-4 run over the next seven minutes to go up 18-11 on a Lucas Hargrove 3-pointer with 9:09 left in the half. Trailing 20-14, the Bears scored 10 straight points, capped off by a Kyle Weems 3-pointer, to retake the lead at 26-22. They never trailed again.
A Hargrove dunk brought the Tigers to within 26-24, but the Bears reeled off six consecutive points to take their largest lead of the half at 32-24 at the four minute mark, closing out an 18-4 run that had the crowd of 7,213 in a frenzy.
Auburn committed 15 turnovers in the first half and trailed 36-31.
"We had too many turnovers," Hargrove said. "In a game like this, we really missed Vot (Barber), Rasheem (Barrett) and Tez (Robertson) and seniors with experience. We have a lot of inexperienced players on the team. As seniors, we have to step it up and pick up the slack."
DeWayne Reed added 12 points for Auburn but had seven turnovers. Frankie Sullivan had nine points and freshman Earnest Ross seven.
Missouri State outshot Auburn 42.6 percent (26-of-61) to 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the field and 31.6 percent (6-of-19) to 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from 3-point range. The Tigers were 13-of-22 from the foul line (59.1 percent), while the Bears were 15-of-20 (75.0 percent). Missouri State outrebounded Auburn 38-33.
Auburn plays Central Florida (1-0) Friday in the Glenn Wilkes Classic second round in Daytona Beach, Fa., at 5 p.m. CST. The Tigers will then play IUPUI on Saturday and North Carolina State on Sunday.
