Auburn Nearly Turns Over Big Lead Against Creighton

Auburn, already teetering at the end of the season after the suspension of star Chris Porter, avoided the double disaster of first-round elimination and a final-seconds collapse Thursday, holding off Creighton, 72-69, in the Midwest Regional at the Metrodome.

Auburn led by 18 points early in the second half and by nine with 12.7 seconds remaining, then almost collapsed in a manner befitting a team that had five losses in the previous six games.

“The game should have been over,” Tiger Coach Cliff Ellis said.

It was 72-63 when the Creighton rally began with Ryan Sears’ three-pointer with 7.6 seconds left. The 10th-seeded Bluejays (23-10) immediately got another chance when Auburn’s Jimbo Tolbert, inserted in the game for the first time during the stoppage with 12.7 seconds left, threw the ball out of bounds, then turned that into a three-pointer by Terrell Taylor.

That made it 72-69 with 3.8 seconds left. Seventh-seeded Auburn, given another chance to put the game away, wasted this one too. Daymeon Fishback, trying to get the ball in, threw a long pass that sailed over the head of teammate Mamadou N’Diaye and out of bounds, a terrible gamble in that situation.

Since no one touched the ball, Creighton got the ball back with 3.8 seconds to play at the original end of the court, feet from where it would be shooting.

When play resumed, Creighton’s Ben Walker went for the tie, with a turnaround on the right side, but N’Diaye made the block just as the shot left Walker’s hands. Reggie Sharp got control of the loose ball for the Tigers (24-9) as time expired.

Iowa State 88, Central Connecticut State 78--The No. 2-seeded team shot 60.7% and got 27 points and 11 rebounds from Marcus Fizer, but still got a scare in the second half before pulling away.

Iowa State (30-4) led by 15 points with 16:46 remaining and 11 with 13:05 left, but the 15th-seeded Blue Devils (25-6) used a 17-6 run to tie the score with 6:13 to play. The Cyclones responded by scoring 12 points in a row.

“We didn’t want to talk about David and Goliath or the Cinderella slipper or shocking the world,” Central Connecticut State Coach Howie Dickenman said. “We came here to win the basketball game.”

Michael Nurse made big shots early for the Cyclones and again late, when the Blue Devils denied Fizer the ball. John Tice scored 21 points to lead Central Connecticut State, but he didn’t have a basket in the final seven minutes.

Maryland 74, Iona 59--The third-seeded Terrapins made quick and easy work of the 14th-seeded Gaels, displaying a consistency and steadiness rarely seen in frustrating Maryland tournament teams of the past.

They engineered an 11-2 run to start the game and a 12-4 run to start the second half, and were never challenged.

They beat Iona outside with 46% shooting, and inside with a 49-32 rebounding edge. They were not only better athletes than the Gaels, they played harder and smarter, unusual for often-tense Gary Williams-coached postseason clubs.

Terence Morris and Lonny Baxter, their two inside strongmen, combined for 34 points and 23 rebounds. Juan Dixon, their blossoming sophomore guard, scored 20 with seven assists.

For Iona, the most imposing sight was that of black-clad Coach Jeff Ruland stalking the sidelines. The Gaels could have used their former standout center, particularly when they missed 12 of their first 14 shots.

The Gaels, beaten by UCLA by 32 points earlier this year, proved again that teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are rarely a match for the bigger conferences in March. The MAAC teams finished 1-17 this year against teams from the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pacific 10.

Tariq Kirksay, the MAAC player of the year, scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime to make the score almost respectable.