STARKVILLE — Gavin Ware’s final game didn’t start like he wanted it to, but it ended in a way he thought was fitting.

Along with Ware, Mississippi State honored Craig Sword, Fred Thomas, Johnny Zuppardo, Travis Daniels and Reggie Patterson on senior day. But the emotion of the ceremony carried over into the first half.

The Bulldogs fell behind by eight early on, but overcame the deficit and beat the Auburn Tigers 79-66 Saturday afternoon inside Humphrey Coliseum to send the seniors out with a win in their final regular season game.

“It means a lot knowing that we’ve been facing adversity since we first got here,” Ware said. “It means a lot. It was very emotional, but I’m just glad we got the win.”

Ware, Sword and Thomas have played four seasons with the Bulldogs, while Zuppardo, Daniels and Patterson are junior college transfers. The trio of four-year seniors faced adversity in the very beginning with recruitment by coach Rick Stansbury and playing three seasons for coach Rick Ray. Ben Howland took over last spring and immediately began to change the culture of MSU basketball. The seniors bought in.

Losing carried over into this season for the Bulldogs (14-16, 7-11 Southeastern Conference), but the seven league wins is the most in the last four years.

“I was really happy for our seniors,” Howland said. “Those kids have all worked really hard for us this year and done an incredible job. When you think about Fred, Gavin and Chicken (Sword) being here four years, to go out with a great feeling in their last game in the Hump.”

Leading 39-20 at halftime, the Bulldogs let the Tigers (11-19, 5-13) cut the deficit to single digits at 52-43 with 12 minutes, 14 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs managed to push the lead to 57-43 with two Fred Thomas free throws and a Quinndary Weatherspoon 3-pointer, but Auburn puled within 10 at 63-53 with 7:31 left.

But Auburn’s T.J. Dunans was assessed a technical foul and the Bulldogs scored the next 14 points to put the game out of reach. After Ready converted one free throw after the technical foul, senior Travis Daniels knocked down a 3-pointer in the left corner.

“They were very important 3s. I was happy Travis,” Howland said.

Howland started five seniors, with Patterson sitting on the bench. He did see playing time late and even scored two points when he drove into the lane and laid the ball high off the glass, watching it fall through the net.

“Reggie is such a great kid,” Howland said. “He was a manager when I showed up and after being here for a month and a half with the lack of numbers, I said ‘Hey you’re going to be a walk-on.’ I was excited no question, especially when he made the shot.”

MSU fell behind 8-0 in the early going with the five seniors on the floor. Howland said there was an adrenaline rush for those five seniors with the ceremony and many friends and family on hand to see them play their final regular season game.

But the seniors got a huge boost from a pair of freshmen. Trailing 13-11, Malik Newman (team-high 17 points) and Quinndary Weatherspoon (16 points) combined to score the next eight field goals to push the lead to 32-16. Newman made a 3-pointer and then Weatherspoon answered with a 3-pointer as Newman found him wide open for the assist. Newman made another 3 on a curl screen to give the Bulldogs a 20-13 lead.

“When Malik got it going, that got me going,” Weatherspoon said. “That was some big time shots that we needed to get our offense on the move.”

Newman, who was projected as a one-and-done player, said after the game he had not thought about if that was his last regular season game.

Sword scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including six-straight to give MSU a 63-47 lead. Thomas scored seven, Daniels six and Patterson two, but Zuppardo failed to score.

Ware, a Starkville native, registered his ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs play in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., as the No. 11-seed. The Bulldogs will play No. 6 seed Georgia at approximately 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Ware, with several other seniors, was taken out late and they were met by a standing ovation.

“I just knew I played my heart out and gave everything I had to give in this last game,” Ware said.

Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait

Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.