Tigers suffer embarrassing home loss

Junior college transfer Gilberto Clavell scored a career-high 34 points and Corey Allmond added 25 to lead Sam Houston State to a 107-89 victory over Auburn in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.

DeWayne Reed led the Tigers with 19 points while Tay Waller had 18 points as the Tigers scored a season-high in points.

Sam Houston State (7-3) shot 57.6 percent from the field and 15-of-28 (.536) from 3-point range. The Bearkats played No. 3 Kentucky tough in a 102-92 loss in Rupp Arena on Nov. 19.

"It's obviously a frustrating game," said Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo. "They came in here and just punched us in the face, and we didn't respond. Offensively, they were so good. Clavell just manhandled us. He absolutely hammered us, and we didn't have any answer for him.

"It's discouraging when they hit so many in a row. It's a dagger, and we had a tough time stopping them from hitting two or three in a row. They stunned us in the first half. I thought we would come out and play a little better in the second half. At times we did, but we were not consistent."

The Bearkats went on a 19-4 run breaking a 28-28 tie to pull ahead of the Tigers for good at 47-32 with four minutes left in the first half. Sam Houston State scored 58 first half points to hold a 16 point lead on Auburn at intermission.

Auburn (5-6) cut Sam Houston's largest lead of 25 points at 83-58 with 11:20 to play in the game to 86-72 with eight minutes remaining but that is as close as the Tigers would get.

"I can't really explain what happened because we went over everything at practice, and then we got in the game and acted like we have never seen the stuff they were doing before," said Waller. "It was just embarrassing. It was all about effort. They outplayed us physically. We got beat everywhere. We didn't show any effort at all.

"We went over everything at practice. We just didn't show up."

Frankie Sullivan added 15 points for Auburn and Lucas Hargrove had 11 points. Auburn shot 50.8 percent from the field for the game, 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from 3-point range and 66.7 percent (18-of-27) from the foul line.

Sam Houston outrebounded Auburn 37-32.

For the Bearkats, Josten Crow had 15 points, Lance Pevehouse 13 points, Ashton Mitchell 10 points and Drae Murray dished out a game-high 10 assists with zero turnovers.

Auburn plays its final pre-Christmas game against Alabama State on Tuesday at 7 pm Central in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. Tickets are $5 each and Aubie Claus will be at the game and available for photos.

Saturday Six Pack ticket packages are on-sale now and include a reserved ticket to six Saturday games for only $59. Purchasing the Six Pack saves $36 off the regular price and guarantees a seat for the Kentucky, Georgia Southern, South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU and Alabama games. To purchase, visit AuburnTigers.com or call 800-AUB-1957.