Auburn’s offense was out of sync late Saturday night, struggling to cobble together points for a 4 ½-minute stretch late in the second half as Mississippi State crept closer and closer.

The Bulldogs cut the Tigers’ lead, once as large as 13 points, down to four with 2:34 to play. Bruce Pearl wanted a timeout to talk things over and draw up a play to get Wendell Green Jr. and Allen Flanigan, who was playing the four after Jaylin Williams fouled out late, at the top of the key. Flanigan got the ball on the right side of the floor and took a hard dribble toward the top of the key, drawing Green’s defender just enough to create sufficient space for a dribble-handoff to the Tigers’ point guard, who circled back behind Flanigan.

Read more Auburn basketball: No. 21 Auburn sets season high from deep, holds off Mississippi State for 69-63 win

Rewinding No. 21 Auburn basketball’s 69-63 win against Mississippi State

Allen Flanigan is back to his old ways for Auburn

Green gathered his feet from the outskirts of the halfcourt AU logo and spotted up, drilling the deep 3-pointer to snap Auburn’s lengthy scoring drought and push the lead back to seven with 2:13 to play at Neville Arena. Moments later, Green got a steal on the other end of the floor and raced downcourt for a layup that put Auburn up by nine, eventually staving off Mississippi State for a 69-63 win.

“It was a big shot,” Pearl said. “It was what we wanted. And then come down to the other end and Wendell makes a great defensive play, and all of a sudden, now the game is ours. Making plays on both ends of the floor is what you’ve got to do to win.”

No one has seemingly affected winning more for Auburn in SEC play than Green, the audacious point guard and the team’s leading scorer this season. In all four of the Tigers’ conference wins, Green has come up big in late-game situations — with Saturday’s late surge against Mississippi State, when he scored 11 of Auburn’s final 12 points, the latest example.

Closing out games is nothing new for Green. He was in the closing lineup throughout last season, even when he wasn’t starting games for Auburn in his first year with the program. Now, the poised veteran has not only been closing out games for the Tigers, but he has undeniably been Auburn’s certified closer in late-game situations.

“I’m experienced,” Green said. “Coach trusts me out there. Last year, I was in, so you know, I have experience, just over from last year (to) this year. And my guys expect me, you know, to take care of the ball the end of the game, make my free throws. And it’s just what’s expected.”

In each of Auburn’s four SEC wins this season, Green has impacted the game late, which has helped the Tigers get off to such a strong start in league play, sitting just behind Alabama and Texas A&M — both of which are undefeated in SEC action — in the standings.

In Auburn’s SEC opener against Florida, a tight game at Neville Arena on Dec. 28, Green hit a tough left-handed layup in transition off a Chris Moore steal in the closing seconds to seal the Tigers’ 61-58 win. Green finished that game with a team-high tying 14 points and five rebounds.

The 5-foot-11 junior struggled in a loss at Georgia to open the new year, but he has responded in a big way in the three games since, each of them Auburn wins. He is averaging 19.7 points, five assists and 3.3 steals per game during that stretch while shooting 41.2 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 92.6 percent (25-of-27) from the free-throw line.

Green scored five of Auburn’s final eight points, including 3-of-4 free throws in the final minute, during the team’s bounceback win against then-No. 13 Arkansas last weekend. He scored or assisted on all three of Auburn’s final made baskets of the game and finished with 19 points and five assists while posting his most efficient shooting performance (5-of-8 overall) of the season. Then on the road at Ole Miss on Tuesday, Green poured on a season-high 23 points and seven assists, with most of his damage coming in the second half. Despite a quiet first half, when he shot 1-of-7 overall and 0-of-2 from deep for five points, Green found his rhythm after halftime, scoring 18 points while going 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 8-of-8 from the line in the second half of the 82-73 win. He accounted for Auburn’s final eight points of the game, including a 6-of-6 clip at the free-throw line to seal the win in the final three minutes.

Then came Saturday’s clutch effort down the stretch against an unforgiving Mississippi State defense, when Green finished with 17 points while scoring 11 of the Tigers’ final 12 of the game. Included in that stretch: his long-range 3 and fastbreak layup—which Williams, and many others in the building, thought might be a rare dunk from the 5-11 guard—as well as a 6-for-6 effort from the free-throw line to ice the game.

“Obviously, the experience,” Pearl said. “He’s got a swag and a confidence, and he’s able to make plays. He’s not afraid of the moment. He’s fearless, and he’s a really smart player.”

Perhaps making Green’s finish against the Bulldogs—and his penchant for making big plays late—more impressive was the fact he wasn’t having a particularly great game until those final three minutes. Prior to his drought-ending 3-pointer, Green had just six points on the night and was just 2-of-9 from the field with two turnovers, three assists (none in the second half) and no rebounds.

Despite that, the only thing going through his mind during the timeout with 2:34 to play was to find a way to win another tough SEC game.

“Do whatever,” Green said. “I struggled offensively throughout the game, but got it going, like you said, the last 2 1/2 minutes, and we ended up winning. And that was my goal.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.