Guard Kareem Canty scored 27 points and running mate T.J. Dunans added 19 points as the Auburn Tigers held off the New Mexico Lobos 83-78 on Tuesday in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamondhead Classic in Honolulu.

The Canty-Dunans combination overcame a scintillating performance from New Mexico guard Elijah Brown, who led all scorers with 33 points. Brown went 10 of 17 from the field, including 6 of 9 from beyond the arc.

Canty's layup with a little more than four minutes to go gave the Tigers (6-3) a 72-71 lead and they never trailed the rest of the way.

Auburn led 81-75 when Brown's 3-pointer brought New Mexico within three with 12 seconds left. Dunans sank one of two free throws to secure the win for Auburn.

Guard Cullen Neal added 21 points for New Mexico (7-4) and forward Tim Williams had 10.

Both teams were trying to rebound from disappointing defeats on Saturday night.

New Mexico lost a heartbreaker to Rice when Williams called a timeout that the Lobos didn't have in the game's last second. He was called for a technical foul. Auburn was never in its game against Xavier.

The Lobos took an early six-point lead against the Tigers, but a five-minute dry spell let Auburn come back and take a 20-19 lead on a Bowers dunk with 9:50 left in the first half.

Brown's layup put the Lobos back up with a little more than eight minutes left in the half, but that was the last field goal for New Mexico in the half until Brown connected on a 3-point shot with eight seconds remaining.

Meanwhile, Auburn built an eight-point lead on two Bowers free throws and pressure defense that resulted in a 41-36 lead at halftime.