After a lackluster start in its final exhibition contest of the season, the Auburn Tigers found their rhythm near the end of their first half and did not look back, defeating the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday night in Neville Arena.
Auburn took down Samford 80-68 after the Bulldogs held the lead for most of the first half. However, a 16-2 run from the Tigers in the final 5:04 is what gave Steven Pearl’s squad the momentum it needed to power ahead.
In Kolby King’s debut for the program, he did not take long to make a highlight a play on the right wing, draining a 3-pointer through contact to make it a 22-22 game before hitting a free throw to give Auburn its first lead since 2-0 at 23-22.
Then, towards the end of the first half, Tahaad Pettiford hit a dribble move and took a step back to the top of the key to hit a triple, making it 29-24 and forcing a Samford timeout.
Pettiford hit another 3-pointer soon after again to extend the lead to eight points, and then in the final seconds of the first 20 minutes, Kevin Overton took a shot from way downtown and hit nothing but nylon, ending the half with a loud shot to put the Tigers ahead 35-24.
This sequence happened after the Bulldogs hit four 3-pointers in the first 15 minutes to be ahead 20-14 early. Cooper Noard led the way for Samford in that first half with nine points and six rebounds and one assist, while Cade Norris followed behind with four points and one assist.
That momentum for the Bulldogs came early on, as Noard and Ty Davis each hit triples to put them up 6-2 and cement their brand of basketball.
Samford turned around to open up the second half of play with another run of its own, trying to fire back and make it a game again.
In the first five minutes out of the break, Noard caught fire and scored 10 of the Bulldogs 16 points to help pull Lennie Acuff’s squad within one point at 41-40.
Auburn got things back in momentum out of the first media timeout of the second half though, getting the lead back to multiple possessions.
A seven-point swing out of the break powered by five points from Overton got the lead out to 48-40, but Noard continued to make havoc with two more triples to put the score at 52-46 Tigers at the next media intermission.
Samford continued to answer and put itself in position however, as Acuff’s team kept making sparks.
Contact was the theme of the next few minutes to follow as the Bulldogs got five of their 10 points from the charity stripe, followed by a 3-pointer from Davis to make it 59-56 Auburn with 7:41 remaining in the game.
The Tigers extended the lead back out to 12 in the next four minutes to follow, as Pettiford, Overton and Caleb Williams notched buckets capped by a corner triple from Williams to make it 71-59.
However, a two-pointer from Norris and yet another 3-point basket from Noard cut the score to 71-64 at the final media timeout with 3:19 left.
Williams made the highlight reel once again though out of the media break, hitting a crossover and catching a Samford defender leaning to hit a triple in the corner right in front of the Auburn bench to extend things to 74-64.
The Tigers cruised to the end from there, playing to get to the foul line and sealing things to capture the 80-68.
Overton led the way for Auburn on the night with 25 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Pettiford followed closely behind him with 20 points four rebounds and four assists.
Noard led all scorers on the night for Samford, notching 30 points to go with 10 rebounds and one assist.
The Tigers finish the exhibition season 1-2 and host Southeastern Louisiana to begin the regular season on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. CST at Neville Arena.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
