No. 13 Yale came back from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat No. 4 down Auburn 78-76, Auburn had countless chances to tie or take the lead in the final 30 seconds.
The Tigers took a 61-51 lead with 9:53 left before Yale slowly chipped away at an Auburn scoring drought. The Tigers went more than three minutes without scoring as Yale cut the lead to four with 4:41 left.
Yale then took a 73-72 lead with 2:11 left on a 3-pointer by John Poulakitas. The teams traded missed shots before Paulikitas fouled Auburn's Denver Jones with 46 seconds left.
From there, the Bulldogs hung on. Somehow.
Jones, an 88% free throw shooter, missed the first of a 1-and-1 before Danny Wolf made two more free throws to extend the lead to three. Auburn had a chance to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left, but Trey Donaldson's 3-pointer went off the rim.
After Yasin Karrum made one of two free throws, Auburn's Katie Johnson was fouled for a layup with 9.4 seconds left.
Johnson missed his free throw, but Auburn got the ball with a possession arrow after a tie-up on the rebound.
Trey Donaldson was fouled under the basket on an inbounds pass and went to the free-throw line. He missed both of his free throws … and Auburn got the rebound. Johnny Broom missed a layup as he hit the ground hard, and Jaylin Williams had a shot blocked before expiration.
Broom fell to the ground and injured his right knee and sat courtside as Yale celebrated its victory.
Paulakidas had a game-high 28 points. He was 10-of-15 from the field and 6-of-9 from the 3-point line. Broome scored 24 points on 7-10 from the field and 9-for-11 from the line.
The Bulldogs entered the 2016 No. 5 It was Yale's first NCAA Tournament win since beating No. 12 Baylor. The Bulldogs have since made two March Madness appearances, both of their first-round games at No. 14 seeds.
Auburn's loss continued a terrible start to the NCAA Tournament for the SEC. The Tigers became the fifth SEC team to lose in the first round when Florida lost to Colorado within minutes. Mississippi State, Kentucky and South Carolina lost on Thursday. Tennessee was the only SEC school to record a win on the first day of the tournament.
The Tigers entered the NCAA tournament as the SEC tournament champions and were ranked No. 7 by BetMGM to win the national title. Prior to the match no. You can bet Auburn was trailing in the 4th row. But Auburn didn't play like the favorite Friday.
Auburn had several chances to put Yale away during the second half and was unable to do so. The Tigers also missed Chad Baker-Masara. He was ejected for 2 fouls on Yale's August Mahoney in the first five minutes of the game. Baker-Masara entered the game as Auburn's third leading scorer.
