Auburn comes up short against Cowboys

Korvotney Barber had a career-high 19 points, while Quantez Robertson added 14 to go with six steals and Frank Tolbert chipped in 13, but it was not enough as Auburn (4-1) fell to Oklahoma State (6-0), 66-65, Friday at the South Padre Island Convention Center.

"We showed some resiliency in the second half," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "Oklahoma State got up on us a couple of times in the second, but we didn't fold. We kept coming back and we had a chance to win at the end."

Mario Boggan led Oklahoma State with 25 points and Jameson Curry registered 11 for the Cowboys who remained perfect on the year.

"I thought we played pretty well as a team," Barber said. "Oklahoma State is a good team and Boggan is very good big and solid player down low."

After being down 7-3 to start the game, the Tigers came back to take a 17-11 lead. The Cowboys answered with a 15-0 run to take a 26-17 advantage that was finally broken by a DeWayne Reed three. Oklahoma State held the advantage and took a 36-28 lead into halftime.

Auburn began the second half with a 12-2 run that featured eight points from Robertson to even the game at 38. After a brief two-point lead for the Tigers, the Cowboys went on a 10-0 run for a 52-44 lead.

Auburn worked back and cut the lead to two on separate occasions, but Oklahoma State answered back each time until Robertson stole an inbounds pass for two of his 12 second half points, cutting the Cowboy lead to three, 66-63.

"We gave everything we had both offensively and defensively," Robertson said. "We just missed a lot of open shots."

Oklahoma State missed the front end of back-to-back one-and-ones giving Auburn a chance to tie. The Tigers were unable convert on three-consecutive three-point attempts on their next possession, but a Barber put back cut the lead to one with .3 seconds to go. However, the Cowboys were able to able to run out the clock to seal the one point win, 65-66.

The Tigers outscored the Cowboys 37-30 in the second half.

"It's going to be tough facing Wisconsin tomorrow," Barber said. "We just need to play as hard as we did today, and if we do that, anything is possible."

Auburn will face No. 7 Wisconsin (4-1), who fell to Missouri State 66-64, in the consolation final of the South Padre Island Invitational on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central.