Dawgs Defeat Tigers

BASKETBALL

Jeremy Price matched his career high with 22 points and Georgia outscored Auburn 14-5 in extra time en route to an 81-72 overtime victory Saturday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum.

Price led the Dawgs with 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting and was 10-for-13 from the line. Travis Leslie got 20 points and Trey Thompkins added 16 for Georgia. Auburn’s Earnest Ross led all scorers on the day with 30 as he was 5-of-7 from three.

Supplementing Price’s career scoring day, the senior also set a new career-best on the glass, grabbing 14 rebounds, and matched his career block total with four.

Georgia led handily in the rebounding column, 48-30, improving to 16-6 (5-4) and dropping AU to 8-15 (1-8).

“That was a hard fought SEC game. I feel fortunate to win it,” said head coach Mark Fox. “Auburn played with a little more edge than we did, and you have to credit them for that. It is a win, even though I’m very disappointed. I don’t think I did a very good job preparing our team to play, to be honest with you.”

“Jeremy did play very well. Trey had an IV this morning. He’s not well, so JP knew that he was going to have to come ready to play, and I thought he was consistently pretty darn good for us. He rebounded the ball well, scored it, and played like a senior.”

Georgia owned a nine-point lead over Auburn, 33-24, with 4:45 remaining in the first half before an 8-0 Tiger run closed the gap to just a one-point lead. A dunk for Price off a perfect pass inside from Leslie gave the Dawgs a four-point advantage, 38-34, heading into the break.

Georgia went up by seven on a Leslie dunk with 11:31 left in regulation that made it 56-49, and the Dawgs stretched the lead out to eight, 60-52, with 9:56 on the clock as Dustin Ware layed one in following a steal for teammate Marcus Thornton.

But the Tigers again clawed their way back, scoring the next seven points to cut it to just a one-point deficit, 60-59, with 6:20 left in the second. That mini-run was capped by a lay-up for Adrian Forbes following a turnover from Georgia’s Chris Barnes.

Georgia went back out in front by six with 4:09 to play and led by five, 66-61, with 2:38 left, but a couple of late turnovers proved costly as Auburn scored four points in the final 13 seconds of regulation to tie it at 67-67 with just 10 ticks remaining. The Dawgs had a look at the game-winner as Robinson’s lay-up rimmed out with just a second left, and by the time Leslie put up the follow time had expired.

But Georgia took control in overtime, and after trading buckets with the Tigers early, did not allow Auburn to score through the final 3:13 of OT and closed the contest on a sizzling 10-0 run that included hot free-throw shooting in the final minute. The Dawgs outscored Auburn 14-5 in extra time on their way to the 81-72 win during the Saturday matinee.

With today’s performance, Trey Thompkins joined an elite group of Georgia basketball players becoming just the ninth Dawg all-time to amass 1,200 points and 600 rebounds in a career. He is just the third, however, to accomplish the feat in three seasons.

The win today pushes Georgia just ahead of Auburn in the all-time series, as the Dawgs take a slim 88-87 lead vs. the Tigers.