Harlem 49, Auburn 47:Chaz Winters was quiet in Friday’s first half. Then again, so were the rest of the Harlem Huskies.
“We couldn’t do anything right,” Winters explained after his team went 4 for 13 from the floor in the first quarter and trailed by 12 at halftime.
After a furious third-quarter comeback and a back-and-forth battle in the fourth quarter, however, Winters’ tip-in with less than two seconds remaining lifted the Huskies to a 49-47 road win over Auburn.
“I can still picture it perfectly — I can see the miss, the ball rolling around a little, and then my tip slowly falling through,” Winters said shortly after finishing with a game-high 15 points. “This is really big. We came in as kind of the dark horse, and we had something to prove. I think we’re proving we’re pretty good.”
For the third straight game, Harlem (13-4, 7-2 NIC-10) rallied from a double-digit, first-half deficit to win. It also was the Huskies’ ninth straight victory.
Auburn (12-6, 7-2) drained four of its first six shots, led 23-10 early in the second quarter, but still lost for the third time in its past four games. For the second straight week, free throws played a big part in a home conference loss for the Knights. Last weekend they were 7-for-18 from the line in a 47-42 overtime loss to Hononegah. Friday they were 8-for-17 overall and 4-of-9 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
They didn’t lose a home conference game all last year.
“To lose a game in overtime last week and a tip-in this week, after going so long without a home conference loss, is very, very hard to take,” Auburn coach Bryan Ott said. “I really thought we had made some strides at the free-throw line, too. But these last two weeks, free throws have come back to haunt us big time.”
With 6-foot-7 senior center Eddie Bowling out for the year with a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee — he was injured during last Friday’s warmups and will have surgery next month — 6-4 Ayrryous Ford came up big down low for Auburn early on. Ford was 4-for-4 from the floor and had four rebounds in the first half as Auburn led from 10 seconds in until the break.
The senior finished with a game-high nine rebounds, but totaled just 13 points after taking only one shot in the last two quarters. He still led Auburn in scoring.
Winters made three of his first four second-half shots and scored eight points during Harlem’s 20-9 third-quarter run. Bo Andrews (13 points) turned a steal into a fast-break layup that made it 45-all with less than four minutes to play for the game’s only tie.
There would be just one more field goal, and the tap-in off Winters’ fingertips proved to be enough.
“The guys are just finding ways to win ballgames. We just scratched and clawed, and found a way,” Harlem coach Mike Moore said. “The guys are keeping their poise, keeping their composure. It’s not always pretty, but look where we are.”
Harlem and Auburn are tied with Jefferson for second place in the conference, with the Huskies headed to Jefferson tonight. Auburn travels to Guilford, and first-place Hononegah is at Boylan.
-Jay Taft, rrstar.com
