SALT LAKE CITY | Auburn survived, barely.

Travelin Queen’s 3-pointer at the buzzer sailed long as the 5th-seeded Tigers hung on for a 78-77 win over No. 12 seed New Mexico State Thursday at the Vivint Arena. Auburn wins its ninth consecutive game to improve to 27-9 and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in school history.

“They call it March Madness for a reason and sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told TNT Sports after the game. “We were fortunate. We didn’t execute down the stretch. Jared (Harper) made some big plays in the second half but he also didn’t take care of the ball late. He’s got to do that for us to be able to win close basketball games.”

The Tigers will play the winner of No. 4 seed Kansas vs. No. 13 seed Northeastern Saturday for a chance to go to the Sweet 16 for only the fifth time in school history.

With Auburn leading 78-76, Bryce Brown fouled Terrell Brown on a 3-point shot with 1.7 second left. Brown missed the first free throw, made the second and missed the third, but the rebound went out of bounds to NMSU with 1.1 second left to set up Queen’s final heave from the left baseline.

Auburn led by as many as 13 points in the second half but the Aggies cut it to one with 28 seconds left on a long 3-pointer by Queen. AU six turnovers in the final 6:38 of the game.

Harper struggled down the stretch missing a layup, committing two fouls and turning the ball over twice in the final 1:05 before fouling out with 14 seconds left.

Auburn started the second half missing 1 of 7 free throws before making 6 of 7 the final 2:13 of the game. NMSU made just 4 of 9 free throws the final 1:50.

Okeke made two-straight free throws with 15 second left, J’Von McCormick two more with 12.1 seconds left and Samir Doughty made 1 of 2 with 6.0 seconds left to give the Tigers just enough for the win.

After making just 3 of 12 3-pointers in the first half, Auburn made 9 of 19 after the break including 4 of 7 by Harper, who finished with 17 points and four assists.

McCormick scored a career-high 16 points, Chuma Okeke had 13 and Brown 12.

The Tigers were out-rebounded 39-24 and out-scored 36-28 in the paint and 51-28 off the bench.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: J’Von McCormick scored his 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting including 1 of 1 from 3-point range. He also made 3 of 3 free throws and had two rebounds, one assists, two steals and just one turnover in 18 minutes.

PLAY OF THE GAME: After New Mexico State cut Auburn’s lead to 70-65 with 2:38 left. McCormick drove the left baseline for a layup and one. He converted the free throw to put the Tigers back up by eight with 2:13 left.

STAT OF THE DAY: Auburn scored 15 points off 16 NMSU turnovers. AU had 10 turnovers in the game with six of them coming in the final six and a half minutes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Jared Harper to TNT Sports: “I feel like we made enough plays to win today. I kind of put that on myself. I made a couple of plays late in the second half that didn’t help our team. I’m glad to come out with a win."