John Poulakidas made six 3-pointers and scored 28 points and Samson Aletan made a key blocked shot in the final seconds as 13th-seeded Yale notched a 78-76 upset of fourth-seeded Auburn on Friday afternoon in a West Region first-round game at Spokane, Wash.
August Mahoney scored 14 points and Danny Wolf had 13 for the Bulldogs (23-9), who overcame a 10-point, second-half deficit to improve to 2-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
Johni Broome recorded 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Tigers (27-8). Denver Jones added 17 points and Jaylin Williams had 13 for Auburn.
Upstart Yale will face No. 5 seed San Diego State in Sunday’s second round.
The Bulldogs led 78-74 after Yassine Gharram split two free throws with 14.4 seconds remaining.
Auburn’s K.D. Johnson scored a basket with 9.4 seconds left and was fouled but missed the free throw to keep the margin at two. There was a tie-up for the loose ball and the possession arrow pointed in the Tigers’ direction.
On the in-bound play, Tre Donaldson was fouled with 6.1 seconds left and missed both free throws.
Broome got the rebound but couldn’t get off a shot and Williams was next but Aletan swatted away his attempt. Johnson got the offensive rebound but his 3-point shot bounced off the rim as time expired.
Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara drew a flagrant 2 foul and ejection just 3:01 into the game. Baker-Mazara was running up court and aggressively slammed his right elbow into the chest of Mahoney.
The Tigers led by 10 midway through the second half before the Poulakidas-led Bulldogs made an impressive charge.
A stepback jumper by Poulakidas pulled the Bulldogs within 70-66 with 3:39 remaining. Matt Knowlton and Wolf each added two free throws as Yale tied the score at 70 with 2:38 remaining.
After Broome scored inside to put Auburn back ahead, Poulakidas drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 73-72 edge with 2:11 left.
Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 46.2 seconds left. Wolf was fouled and made both shots to give Yale a three-point lead with 45 seconds left.
Broome made two free throws with 33.6 seconds remaining to pull Auburn within 75-74. But Mahoney sank two free throws with 32.9 seconds left.
The Tigers shot 50.9 percent from the field, including 7 of 20 from 3-point range.
Yale connected on 46.2 percent of its shots and was 9 of 20 from behind the arc.
Broome had 13 points and nine rebounds in the first half as the Tigers led 41-34 at the break. Poulakidas scored 12 in the half for Yale.
–Field Level Media