Jeremiah Wilkinson scored a season-high 31 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in overtime, to help No. 23 Georgia outlast visiting Auburn 104-100 on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Athens, Ga.
The victory ended Georgia’s five-game losing streak to Auburn.
Georgia trailed 98-95 with 2:56 left in overtime when Wilkinson scored seven straight points to help the Bulldogs regain the lead at 102-98 with 1:00 remaining. Georgia sealed it with 5.3 seconds left when Dylan James stole a pass and made two free throws for his only points of the game.
Auburn pulled off an improbable rally in the final second of regulation to send the game into overtime.
Trailing 92-88 after Somto Cyril’s dunk, Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall was fouled on a 3-point shot with 0.7 seconds remaining. Hall made the first two free throws, intentionally missed the third and Kevin Overton grabbed the rebound and scored to force overtime.
Wilkinson was 9 of 21 from the floor and 4 of 10 on 3-point attempts to help Georgia (13-1, 1-0 SEC) post its school-record seventh 100-point game. He scored 18 in the first half.
The Bulldogs also got a season-high 24 points from Marcus Millender, who had five 3-pointers. Cyril added 15 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots and Blue Cain scored 15.
Tahaad Pettiford scored 15 of his 25 points in the first half for Auburn (9-5, 0-1) before fouling out. Hall scored 20 points with seven rebounds and Overton had 19 points and seven rebounds. Filip Jovic had his first double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.
Wilkinson hit a jumper at the buzzer for a 47-45 lead at halftime. Auburn failed to make a field goal in the final 3:59 of the first half.
The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points early in the second half but could not put away the Tigers away. Auburn took a 74-73 lead with 5:37 remaining on a 3-pointer by Freeman and a bucket by Overton.
Georgia regained the lead with a 6-0 run, punctuated by a Millender 3-pointer, and held the advantage until the last-second theatrics.
–Field Level Media
