Auburn 77, Boston College 67: KT Harrell's 29 points and six 3-pointers — both career highs — carried the host Tigers over the Eagles in the final game for both teams before the Christmas break.

Harrell, a transfer from Virginia who sat out last season, shot 10-of-17 from the floor, including 6-of-10 on his 3-point attempts, to shoulder the load for Auburn (6-3). Chris Denson, the Southeastern Conference's leading scorer at nearly 20 points per game, finished with 15 points and Tahj Shamsid-Deen added 14 points for the Tigers, who connected on 10 3-pointers.

Olivier Hanlan had 20 points in the second half to finish with a team-high 28 for Boston College (4-8) in its first game ever at Auburn. Ryan Anderson, who had been averaging 16.9 points, finished with 11 points off the bench on 3-of-7 shooting.

The Tigers opened the game with three straight 3-pointers, including back-to-back treys from Harrell, en route to shooting 8-of-14 from beyond the arc in the first half with Harrell notching his career-high fourth trey in the first 20 minutes. Clinging to a 23-22 lead, Auburn closed out the final 4 1/2 minutes of the half by outscoring Boston College 14-2, capped by a 9-0 run going into the break to give the Tigers a 37-24 lead.

The Tigers led by as many as 20 early in the second half before Boston College outscored Auburn 9-2 to pull within 58-47 with 9:40 remaining when the game was stopped for 15:20 to replace a malfunctioning shot clock, along with the entire basket assembly. When play finally resumed, the Eagles scored six of the next nine points to cut the deficit to 61-53 with six minutes left, but could get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harrell doubled his previous single-game high for 3-pointers and became the first Tiger to score in double-figures in each of Auburn's first nine games since 2006 (Korvotney Barber did it in 12 straight). ... The Eagles — ranked third in the nation in free-throw shooting percentage — were 20-of-29 from the foul line while the Tigers were 17-of-22. ... Boston College had averaged six fewer rebounds than Auburn, but outrebounded the Tigers 34-26.