MARIETTA, Ga. – On Thursday evening, the Southern Polytechnic State University men's basketball team celebrated Senior Night with a 97-89 win over the visiting Auburn University at Montgomery Warhawks in a Southern States Athletic Conference contest inside the Hornets Nest.

Prior to the game, Southern Polytechnic's three seniors were recognized. Those players include Ricky Fuller, CJ McElrath and Kevin Phillip.

"Overall, it was a great team win," Southern Poly head coach Jeffrey Pourchier said. "It was the last game ever at Southern Poly and we came out of here with a win. The kids fought hard over the last 10 minutes and played extremely well.

"I think the crowd really helped us tonight. Late in the game, the crowd stepped up and made a lot of noise."

The Hornets were behind early but then pulled ahead by seven points on four occasions. Seven ties and four lead changes followed before SPSU had a 48-42 advantage at halftime. Auburn Montgomery went back on top by four points, 75-71, with nine minutes to go but Southern Poly took the lead for good, 77-76, with 6:51 left. The Hornets led by 10 points, 97-87, in the final seconds in coasting to the victory.

Each team made 32 field goals, but SPSU took 61 attempts (52.5 percent) to the Warhawks' 69 (46.4 percent). At the free throw line, Southern Poly was 25-of-35 (71.4 percent), compared to 16-of-27 (59.3 percent) for AUM. The Hornets ended with a slim 37-36 edge in rebounds and had just eight turnovers to the guests' 12.

"For us, just taking care of the basketball was one of the big keys," Pourchier said.  

Marcus Dortch scored 22 points for SPSU while Fuller collected 15 with 10 rebounds. Phillip also tallied 15 points, on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, to go along with three assists and a game-high two blocked shots while Chris Key posted 14 points, a game-best 12 boards and three assists. McElrath added a game-high five assists.

"Chris Key did great and had a double-double," Pourchier said. "Ricky Fuller also had a double-double and did a phenomenal job."

Southern Poly is 13-16 overall and 7-10 in SSAC play while Auburn Montgomery falls to 8-18, including 5-12 in the conference. The Hornets travel to play an SSAC East contest against the Southern Wesleyan University Warriors in their 2013-14 regular-season finale on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Central, S.C. The game comes after the SPSU-Southern Wesleyan women's contest that begins at 2 p.m.