Hargrove sparks Tigers past Tide

AUBURN - Lucas Hargrove found out five minutes before tip-off that he would get his second career start in Auburn's Sunday afternoon home game with Alabama.

The freshman responded by pouring in a career-high 28 points and leading the Tigers to a 88-76 win over Alabama at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. After losing seven consecutive games to the Crimson Tide, Auburn has now won three of the last four.

"I guess I'm dumb. I guess I should have started him all year," Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said. "He was awfully good today."

Hargrove got the chance to start despite the fact that he had made just 3-of-14 shots over the past three games.

Confidence, Auburn senior Frank Tolbert said, was never a concern about Hargrove.

"The way Lucas is, he'll have his good days and he'll have his bad days," said Tolbert, who scored 10 points in his final regular season game against Alabama. "Today was a great day. Lucas is one of the most confident people I've met."

Lebo said he started Hargrove because he had tired of DeWayne Reed's inconsistent play after Reed failed to score in Auburn's loss to Tennessee.

Hargrove said after seeing his name posted on the starting lineup, his primary focus was not disappointing his coaches.

He backed the decision by hitting 9-of-12 field goals.

Still, Hargrove that doesn't guarantee any future starts.

"I hope I do, but if I don't its no big deal," Hargrove said. "I'll just come off the bench and contribute."

Quan Prowell is more familiar with a starting role, but his production didn't pick up until the second half.

At halftime, Lebo challenged Prowell to take more shots and the forward responded by pouring in 17 of his 22 points and leading the Tigers on a 24-9 run early in the second half from which Alabama (14-13, 3-9) never recovered. Prowell also grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out with 3:08 remaining.

Prowell's bigger impact came in stretching Alabama's defense and forcing forward Richard Hendrix to defend the perimeter. That allowed the Tigers to penetrate later in the game.

Auburn (14-11, 4-8) was able to slow Hendrix on offense as well. For the first time this season, the Tigers played a triangle-and-two defense, focusing on Mykal Riley and Brandon Hollinger. Alabama's supporting cast couldn't give the Tide enough production to win.

"They put three guys around (Hendrix) in the paint and then put two around the perimeter and left two guys wide open," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "That's where you've got to be able to make some shots and pull them out of it. What happened to us is we couldn't make any shots, so they stayed in it."

Alonzo Gee led the Crimson Tide with 18 points, but shot just 8-for-20.

The Crimson Tide missed several open looks in the game and connected on just 28 percent of their 3-pointers.

"I guess we just didn't have it today," said Hendrix, who still managed 16 points. "You just try to put it behind you and move on."