AUBURN, Ala. — A strong second half from the Ole Miss men’s basketball team came up short, as they fell late to Auburn 78-74 on Wednesday night at Neville arena.

The home team led early, going up by nine with just over 12 minutes on the clock in the first half. The Rebels (10-18, 2-13 SEC) responded, as they took the lead 24-22 after a driving layup from Matthew Murrell with six minutes on the clock, before the Tigers (19-9, 9-6 SEC) closed out the first half with an 18-9 run to lead 40-33 at halftime.

Auburn took their largest lead of the game early in the second half, up 12, before a 15-2 run by Ole Miss forced a timeout call by the Tigers. Leading by one, the Rebels took a missed three by Auburn down the court before James White hit one from deep to push their lead to 63-59 with 6:21 left to play. However, a late push from Auburn put them back on top as Ole Miss was unable to reclaim the lead again, inching within one with 14 seconds to go but not getting another true offensive opportunity.

Murrell led the Rebels in scoring with 23 points, his seventh game with 20 or more points this season. Myles Burns added 14 points and six rebounds, collecting six steals on the defensive end, tying him for the eighth-most in a single game in school history and giving him 13 steals over the last two contests. Coming off the bench, White added a career-high 13 points with four rebounds, going 2-2 from beyond the arc.

Wendell Green Jr. led Auburn in scoring with 23 points, while Johni Broome chipped in 19 with eight rebounds.

Up next for Ole Miss is a home game with LSU on Saturday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the SJB Pavilion and on the SEC Network.