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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
12-7, 3-5
Auburn
16-5, 5-3
Men's Basketball Falls Short At Auburn, 77-71
2/5/2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb 5, 2003
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By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
AUBURN, Ala. - Marquis Daniels scored 20 points and Derrick Bird hit four free throws in the final 19 seconds as Auburn beat Mississippi 77-71 Wednesday night, snapping a three-game losing streak.
The Tigers (16-5, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) survived a late foul-a-thon, making half their 14 free throws in the final 2:02 as the Rebels (12-7, 3-5) had three starters foul out late.
Kyle Davis had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots to pass Mamadou N'diaye as Auburn's career blocks leader with 244. He didn't start after scoring just 12 points in his last five games.
Lewis Monroe scored a career-high 16 points, including 13 in the first half, and Nathan Watson hit three 3-pointers and scored 11.
Auburn was 7-of-10 from 3-point range and 26-of-37 from the free throw line.
Aaron Harper led five Ole Miss players in double figures with 16 points, while Emmanuel Wade had 14 and three players - Justin Reed, Derrick Allen and Chris Rhodes - scored 10 apiece.
The Rebels hit just one field goal in a span of more than five minutes, but a Reed layup with 24 seconds left to cut it to 73-69. Then Daniels missed two free throws, but Bird collected the rebound and was quickly fouled.
He hit both free throws and two more with 13 seconds remaining.
Auburn maintained its lead in the SEC West and is 16-2 when scoring more than 72 points this season, doing it this time against the nation's No. 3 scoring defense.
Reed was coming off a 26-point effort at Vanderbilt but was just 3-of-9 from the floor.
The lead changed hands six times with five ties in the first half. David Sanders hit two free throws with 29 seconds left and Daniels missed a pull-up jumper in the final seconds as the Rebels took a 36-35 halftime lead.
Ole Miss went up 34-29 on Emmanuel Wade's 3-pointer to cap an 11-2 run with 2:28 left. Monroe, who had nine 3-pointers in the first 20 games, then hit one from each wing in a 52-second span.
Monroe hit all three 3-pointers in the first half, topping his career-high by two points before halftime and more than doubling his season average.
