NASHVILLE — Dylan Cardwell waved to fans, turned a corner toward the locker room, then turned a cartwheel in celebration.
The 6-foot-11 Auburn senior, a backup center, scored his only points of the game on consecutive dunks in the final minutes as the 12th-ranked, fourth-seeded Tigers held off ninth-seeded Mississippi State 73-66 in Saturday’s first Southeastern Conference semifinal at Bridgestone Arena.
“That was really a game changer that I feel like gave us a spark to everybody,” Auburn junior Chad Baker-Mazara said. “It helped us get the crowd involved, too. It was a really big play. He came in, he came in clutch, turned the whole momentum around.”
With the SEC’s top three seeds losing their openers Friday — the first time that had happened in the league tournament since 1983 — that left a wide-open path for Auburn to win the event for the first time since 2019. The Tigers (26-7), who are in the title game for the fifth time in program history and seeking their third title, will face sixth-seeded Florida (24-10) at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
The winner receives the SEC’s automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, with the entire 68-team field for March Madness set to be revealed Sunday evening.
The Gators earned their spot in the league final with a 95-90 victory against Texas A&M (10-14) in Saturday’s second game.
In the first semifinal, the Tigers showed some toughness, handling the physical Bulldogs (21-13) with their first win by single digits this season.
“It was a rock fight because both teams were playing really, really physical,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “That’s Mississippi State’s M.O. Our M.O is playing hard all the time, not always quite as physical. They beat us on the boards, but we hung in there. We hung in there. I thought that was really important.”
Baker-Mazara’s team-high 14 points topped the list of five Auburn scorers in double figures. Denver Jones and Jaylin Williams each added 13, and Johni Broome and Tre Donaldson had 10 apiece.
Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half while trying to rally the Bulldogs, who stunned outright SEC regular-season champion Tennessee with a blowout of the fifth-ranked Volunteers in Friday’s first quarterfinal.
The Bulldogs haven’t reached the SEC title game since their overtime loss to Kentucky in the final in 2010, a year after winning the tournament.
“We had our chances,” second-year coach Chris Jans said.
D.J. Jeffries scored 12 points, and Tolu Smith II had 10 and as many rebounds for a double-double as the Bulldogs outrebounded Auburn 37-29.
Mississippi State had pulled to within 57-56 on seven straight points when Cardwell seized the moment. His first dunk came with 4:40 left. He blocked a 3-point try by Hubbard, then dunked again with 4:08 remaining before running over in front of some Auburn fans and yelling with a big fist pump in celebration.
Cardwell’s 19 minutes included three blocks, three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
This was a chippy game, with double technical fouls handed out not once but twice. Broome needed a trainer to treat his nose at one point early in the second half with the Tigers up 39-35.
Mississippi State led 31-29 before Williams beat the buzzer driving to the basket for a layup, tying it up at 31 going into halftime after Auburn trailed 12-4 early. Broome’s 3 in the opening minute of the second half put the Tigers ahead to stay.
“We lost our composure, especially myself,” Jeffries said of the Bulldogs’ second-half trouble.
Pearl, who took over the Tigers ahead of the 2014-15 season and led them to the SEC tourney title in 2019, is now the second head coach in Auburn men’s basketball history to reach the league final multiple times. Sonny Smith went 1-1 in his trips in 1984 and 1985.
Sunday’s game will offer the Tigers a chance to avenge their 81-65 loss at Florida on Feb. 10, the lone regular-season meeting between the teams.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Auburn center Dylan Cardwell celebrates after scoring during the second half of the Tigers' win against Mississippi State in an SEC tournament semifinal Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.The Gators won their semifinal after routing 19th-ranked, third-seeded Alabama 102-88 late Friday night. The Aggies upset ninth-ranked, second-seeded Kentucky in the quarterfinals.
Florida rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Texas A&M — which had not lost this month — getting a career-high 20 points from Denzel Aberdeen in what Gators coach called a breakout game for the sophomore guard.
“His teammates needed him the most, and he delivered for us,” Golden said. “And we don’t win this game without him, so great job, Denzel.”
Richard praised how hard Aberdeen has worked, never complaining about anything.
“So I’m not surprised to see him come out here to do this,” Richard said. “We’re just proud of him. Everybody believed in him, and we know what he can do. I’m just proud to see that come to fruition.”
The Gators are in the SEC final for the first time since 2014, when they followed their victory in that game by making a run to the NCAA Final Four.
Will Richard added 19 points for Florida, Walter Clayton Jr. scored 16, and Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel had 15 apiece. Alex Condon just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
Texas A&M scored the first five points of the game and led 40-22 with 5:20 left in the half. Coach Buzz Williams said the Aggies were a bit out of sorts down the stretch as he worried about not having someone pick up a third foul.
“We’re disappointed with the result, but we also don’t want to miss the lessons that transpired this month, for sure,” Williams said.
Wade Taylor IV scored 30 points, Tyreced Radford and Sol Washington had 18 apiece — Washington with 10 rebounds — and Manny Obaseki added 12.
Florida rallied in the final 3:17 of the first half to trim its deficit, but Manny Obaseki’s layup in the final gave Texas A&M a 50-42 lead at the break.
The Gators opened the second half with five straight points to get within 54-52. Clayton hit a 3-pointer with 13:11 remaining for a 59-58 lead that was their first of the game. Texas A&M tied it up at 70 and again at 72, but Florida went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.