Passing up the tying layup backfires for Aggies guard
SALT LAKE CITY — A.J. Harris had an easy layup for the tie. He wanted a win for New Mexico State.
It didn’t work out, but what a way for the Aggies to go down swinging Thursday against fifthseeded Auburn in the NCAA Tournament.
With the clock ticking down, Harris passed on an open layup and kicked out to teammate Terrell Brown, who was spotted up for the game-winner behind the arc. Brown was fouled as he took the shot, but missed two of three free throws with 1.1 seconds left, and New Mexico State fell 78-77.
But it’s hard to call the Aggies losers after their showing in the opening round of the Midwest Regional.
“I can sit up here and secondguess,” New Mexico State coach Chris Jans said, “but if he makes the 3, or makes all three free throws, it’s an Ali-Frazier moment.”
Harris said he knew the Aggies trailed by two as he took the inbounds pass with six seconds left, darted up the left side of the court, sped past J’Von McCormick, then got a step on Auburn forward Chuma Okeke.
There was nothing but air between the 5-9 guard and the basket as he made his way through the key.
“Yes, I did, I had an open shot,” Harris said. “But I felt Terrell Brown was going to hit the 3.”
He missed, but took a foul from Bryce Brown, who was late getting out to the arc, and clearly as shocked as anyone to see the ball get kicked back out.
“They have a lot of shot-blockers on their team, so I could see why he would kick it out,” Brown said of his teammate’s decision.
With McCormick making the choke sign as Brown toed the line — “I saw in his face, he was pretty scared,” McCormick said — the junior guard watched his first free throw rim out. He stepped up again and made the second. Then the third one bounced around the iron before bounding out. Auburn knocked the rebound out of bounds and New Mexico State’s Trevelin Queen had an open look from the wing at the buzzer but missed with an air ball.
That huge sigh of relief ? It came from Auburn. The Tigers (27-9) led by as many as 13 points midway through the second half and McCormick’s three-point play gave Auburn a 73-65 lead with 2:13 left. It looked like it was time for Auburn to make plans for Saturday’s second round.
Two turnovers, two missed free throws and two Aggies 3-pointers later, the Tigers were fighting for their lives, hoping Brown, a 78 percent free-throw shooter who had more attempts from the line than anyone on his team this season, would miss at least one.
He missed two.
“Until you get in that moment, you don’t know how you’re going to react,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.