ST. LOUIS (AP) — Auburn’s offense was flowing at the end of the first half. Desean Murray hit his third 3-pointer and ripped off five straight points to put the Tigers up 41-31 over the Crimson Tide at halftime.

Then, the Collin Sexton show started.

Sexton scored 31 points and Alabama used a strong second half to defeat No. 16 Auburn 81-63 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

The Crimson Tide started the second half on a 28-3 run keyed by three consecutive 3s by Sexton. Alabama’s surge put the Tigers away early in the half, and the Crimson Tide (19-14) outscored Auburn 50-22 after the break.

“I didn’t raise my voice,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “I used understandable English, no bad words, and we just talked about how we needed to improve in the second half, and they did it.”

Mustapha Heron led Auburn (25-7) with 18 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Desean Murray scored 15 points, all in the first half. The Tigers moved the ball well on offense and drilled seven 3s in the first half.

By the time halftime arrived, it was all Sexton. The freshman scored 21 second-half points. The performance came after he scored 27 points and hit the game-winning shot against Texas A&M on Thursday.

Auburn’s shooting struggles continued. Jared Harper finished 2 of 11 with seven points. Bryce Brown shot 1-for-8 from beyond the arc. The Tigers shot just 24 percent in the second half and 1-for-14 from 3-point range.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We did what we wanted to do in the first half. At the start of the second half, they came down and flipped the table on us really quickly.” 

TENNESSEE 62, MISSISSIPPI STATE 59

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lamonte turner scored 15 points and No. 13 Tennessee locked down on defense to beat Mississippi State 62-59 in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament on Friday night.

The second-seeded Volunteers (24-7) led nearly the entire game, but the Bulldogs (22-11) had an opportunity to take the lead in the final 10 seconds. Down 61-59, Xavian Stapleton missed a 3-pointer that would have put the Bulldogs ahead.

Tennessee struggled to put away Mississippi State at the end, missing a slew of free throws. The Volunteers finished 17 for 28 from the free-throw line, but outrebounded the Bulldogs 50-33 and notched 22 defensive boards.

Admiral Schofield scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Grant Williams finished with a double-double, notching 10 points and 11 boards.

Lamar Peters led the Bulldogs with 22 points and Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 17 points. Weatherspoon’s brother, Nick, left the contest after Tennessee’s Kyle Alexander’s foot collided with his face as Alexander was contesting a fastbreak.

MARSHALL 85, SOUTHERN MISS 75

FRISCO, Texas — The Southern Miss men’s basketball team cut a 24-point deficit down to six with three minutes left, but Marshall’s hot shooting in the first half gave it the cushion it needed to win 85-75 in the C-USA semifinals on Friday afternoon.

Junior Cortez Edwards finished with a game- and career-high 30 points, the first-such instance for a Golden Eagle since Kourtlin Jackson went for 40 at Marshall in the 2016 finale.

“We’re disappointed for sure, but at the same time, I told the team that when we look back on it, we’re going to look at some really good times,” head coach Doc Sadler said. “We’re disappointed that it didn’t turn out a little bit better today, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort on our players part. It would’ve been easy to duck our head, but if we were that type of team we wouldn’t have even been playing today.”

The Golden Eagles were the only semifinalist to not get a bye for the weekend, and Thursday’s overtime win over two-time defending champion Middle Tennessee was the first C-USA tournament game to go an extra period since 2015.

Marshall (23-10) went 9-for-18 from beyond the arc in the first half, shooting 53 percent overall. Southern Miss held The Herd to a 3-for-10 mark in the second, but a 17-for-20 free-throw clip proved to be crucial.

Edwards’ jumper at the 3:41 mark put Southern Miss within single-digits for the first time since the 4:45 mark. Kevin Holland’s layup with 3:02 left made it a 71-65 game, but Marshall’s Jon Elmore connected from deep on the ensuing possession to keep the Golden Eagles at bay. He finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Southern Miss (16-18) was 3-0 in March entering the day and finished the regular season by improving its C-USA win total each year of the Sadler tenure.