NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mississippi State likely did enough in the Southeastern Conference Tournament to ensure it’ll play again next week. A conference championship was not in the cards, though.

Dylan Cardwell scored his only points on consecutive dunks in the final minutes as No. 12 Auburn held off ninth-seeded Mississippi State 73-66 on Saturday to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.

With the SEC’s top three seeds losing their openers Friday for the first time in this tournament since 1983, that left a wide-open path for Auburn (26-7) to win the event for the first time since 2019. The Tigers are in the title game for the fifth time in program history.

They will play either Texas A&M or Florida as they try to win Auburn’s third title.

Chad Baker-Mazara led five Tigers in double figures with 14 points. Denver Jones and Jaylin Williams each added 13. Johni Broome and Tre Donaldson had 10 apiece.

Josh Hubbard scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, trying to rally Mississippi State (21-13). The Bulldogs go home shy of the championship game continuing a drought that started after their last berth in 2010.

D.J. Jeffries had 12 points for Mississippi State, and Tolu Smith II had 10.

Mississippi State had pulled to within 57-56 on seven straight points when Cardwell got his only buckets of the game. His first dunk came with 4:40 left, then he dunked again with 4:08 remaining before running over in front of some Auburn fans to celebrate with a scream.

This was a chippy game, with double technicals handed out not once but twice. Auburn junior Johni 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.

“It was a rock fight because both teams were playing really, really physical. That’s Mississippi State’s MO. Our MO is playing hard all the time, not always quite as physical,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “They beat us on the boards, but we hung in there. We hung in there. I thought that was really important”