Kingston Flemings scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and No. 1 Houston escaped with a 73-72 win over No. 22 Auburn on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.
Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 points and nine rebounds for Houston (4-0). Emanuel Sharp scored 13 points and Milos Uzan finished with 11 points. Flemings added a game-high seven assists for the Cougars, who finished at 43.1% shooting from the field (28 of 65) and 29.2 percent (7 of 24) from beyond the arc.
Keyshawn Hall scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Auburn (3-1). Tahaad Pettiford scored 15 points and Kevin Overton contributed 13 points for the Tigers, who shot 38.6% from the field (22 of 57), including 31.8% from 3-point range (7 of 22).
Auburn made a few key defensive stops in the final seconds to hold on for the win.
Pettiford drove to the rim but Flemings blocked his layup attempt with 15 seconds remaining. Pettiford had another shot blocked, this time by Houston’s Kalifa Sakho, with 2 seconds left.
Auburn held on to the ball and had a chance for a buzzer-beater shot, but Houston’s defenders broke up a lob pass for KeShawn Murphy near the rim as time expired.
The Cougars led by seven with 2:57 remaining. Uzan knocked down a 3-pointer off an assist from Flemings to increase Houston’s advantage to 73-66.
Auburn chipped away as Overton made two free throws, Sebastian Williams-Adams hit one of two free-throw attempts and Overton sank one of two free-throw attempts. That cut the deficit to 73-70 with 1:26 to go.
A Flemings turnover opened the door for Auburn to creep even closer. Murphy capitalized on the opportunity with a two-handed dunk that brought the Tigers within 73-72 with 52 seconds to go.
Tenacious defense marked the rest of the contest on both ends as Murphy’s dunk proved to be the game’s final basket.
Both teams lost key players in the final four minutes.
Auburn lost its top scorer Hall with 4:14 remaining. He landed awkwardly on a drive to the rim and stayed in the game to make two free throws before hobbling to the locker room.
The Cougars’ Cenac fouled out with 3:22 remaining and was replaced by Isiah Harwell. Houston’s Joseph Tugler followed Cenac to the bench when he fouled out with 1:55 to go. Tugler finished with four points and seven rebounds.
Houston led 39-35 at the half, sparked by Flemings’ 18 points. Hall posted 10 points in the first half for Auburn.
