Maybe everyone should have seen this coming — something strange, something tense, something like fifth-seeded Auburn taking a cushy lead in the second half of its first-round game against 12th-seeded New Mexico State at Vivint Arena, looking for all the world like it was going to coast on by, and then …
All hell broke loose, resulting in a classic NCAA Tournament game finish, not in its outstanding, stellar or efficient play, rather in its all-fired tenacity, toughness and tightness. When the havoc cleared, the numbers on the board read: Auburn 78, New Mexico State 77.
“We made some plays down the stretch that didn’t help us,” said Auburn’s Jared Harper.