Jaylin Williams made the only two baskets for either team over the final eight minutes, including a dagger 3-pointer that secured a hard-fought 66-55 victory for No. 16 Auburn over Texas A&M Tuesday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' eighth consecutive win.
With Auburn leading by 59-55 in the final minute, Williams hit a 3-pointer with 52 seconds to play, the game's only field goal in the last five and a half minutes.
"That's one of the biggest shots of my career, for sure," said Williams, "I practice that shot all the time. I had confidence in that one. Texas A&M beat me up pretty well the past few years."
Williams scored a game-high 22 points and led Auburn with eight rebounds in 35 minutes. His baseline reverse capped an 8-0 run that put Auburn ahead 54-48 with 5:45 to play.
The Aggies made 14 of 15 free throws in the second half and twice pulled within two points down the stretch, but Auburn made 16 of 19 free throws in the second half to preserve its lead.
K.D. Johnson scored 14 points while adding three rebounds and two assists with no turnovers. Johni Broome scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds, going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line in the second half. Tre Donaldson led Auburn with six assists.
Leading by eight at the half, Auburn struggled with turnovers early in the second half and the Aggies used a 6-0 run to take a two-point lead. Texas A&M's Henry Coleman had three old-fashioned 3-point plays in two minutes to temporarily quiet the crowd before Williams gave The Jungle a jolt with a slam after Johnson's assist.
"We knew if we moved the ball around, good things would happen," said Williams, who made 8 of 10 shots and was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. "We knew if we stayed in front of those guards, they couldn't beat us."
Broome's only field goal gave Auburn the lead for good with 8:16 to play.
Auburn forced 19 turnovers and held Texas A&M without a field goal over the game's last 9 minutes and 15 seconds, encompassing 10 missed shots.
Coleman led the Aggies with 17 points. Auburn held A&M's leading scorer, Wade Taylor IV, to eight points on 2-of-16 shooting and 0-for-8 on 3-point attempts.
"I challenged my guards," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I thought our guards did a tremendous job defensively. If we can continue to guard and get a little bit of offense from our defense, that's going to be the key to being consistently able to win each night."
Auburn outscored the Aggies 10-0 in the first half on fastbreak points to take a 30-22 lead into intermission.
Williams led Auburn with 11 points in the opening half, drawing a foul on a transition dunk that capped an 8-0 run and turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead. Williams and Dylan Cardwell took turns assisting each other for points in the paint to give Auburn an eight-point lead late in the half.
The Tigers (13-2, 8-0) remain at Neville Arena Saturday when they host LSU at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
"This has been one of the hardest working teams that I've had," Pearl said. "We've put ourselves in position. We've got work to do."
