CANCUN, Mexico -- LeRon Smith made a crucial observation and followed it with a confident prediction sitting among his teammates on the bench Tuesday night.The Auburn forward watched again and again as Texas Techs Aaron Ross drove into the paint, hollered for the ball and hopped for easy layups. He watched as his teams lead got smaller and smaller, too.I was sitting on the bench, I asked, `Why doesnt someone just block his shot? Smith said. I said, `Theres no way Im going to let him get that layup.Smith came up with the block, swatting Rosss potential tying layup with four seconds left out to Texas Techs Zach Smith, who sailed a 3-pointer over the basket at the buzzer, and the Tigers held on for a 67-65 win in the Cancun Challenge.Mustapha Heron scored 15 points, Daniel Purifoy added 11 and Jared Harper netted 10 for Auburn (4-0), which led by 15 points with 11:15 left.Aaron Ross led the Red Raiders (3-1) with 17 points, Keenan Evans had 13 and Devon Thomas and Smith added 11 and 10, respectively. Smith grabbed 10 rebounds.Texas Tech is an NCAA tournament-caliber team, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. Theyre going to have a really good year. They didnt didnt get off to a very good start in either half and we did. I thought we played really good basketball in the first half.It was all Tigers at halftime. They led by 15 and dominated from midrange and added five 3-pointers. But the Red Raiders began to chip away and turned the rebounding battle in the second half, pulling down 20 to Auburns 11.Meanwhile, the Auburn offense went cold. Dunas snapped 4:18 skid without a field goal with a steal and fast-break layup to make it 65-59 with 1:18 to play.It didnt slow the Red Raiders, who continued a 28-15 run that ended when Thomas hit a layup with 32 seconds left to cut Auburns lead to 65-63. But the Tigers got free throws from Harper, who was 6 for 10 from the line but hit two in the final 25 seconds to keep the game out of reach.THE BIG PICTUREAuburn: The Tigers are 4-0 for the first time since 2011-12 and four underclassmen are helping them get it done. Bryce Brown, Jared Harper and Daniel Purifoy entered the game averaging in double figures and all chipped in equally against the Tigers. Auburn will try to win its fifth straight for the first time since 2004-05 on Tuesday.Texas Tech: Although they couldnt take the lead late, the Red Raiders, on their fourth head coach in six years, were able to keep the game within range. They did so with some explosive plays, including Zach Smiths furious slam dunk that cut Auburns lead to 53-45 with 7:52 left.PROTECTING THE RIMMaybe assistant coach Chuck Perkins overheard Smith as he noticed Ross cutting free to the basket?Pearl said Perkins suggested they put Smith in the game late. He had played just over 12 minutes to that point.Coach Persons suggested that I put LaRon in and I went with it, and it was a great call, Pearl said. Because LaRon is our best rim protector. . LaRon had some rebound baskets, he had some offensive rebounds and he was our best rim-protector at a very, very big time.LEARNING AND WINNINGHeron did plenty on the offensive side. Pearl noted the game began to shift as the true freshman got deeper into foul trouble. Heron picked up his third early in the second half and Texas Tech took advantage, getting inside the defense to sink 18 points in the paint over the final 20 minutes.The rebounding thing, it really swung in the second half. It energized them, Pearl said. I thought we stopped guarding in the second half. . Hes got to continue to guard and that, I think opened the door a little bit to Texas Techs run.UP NEXTBoth teams continue in the Cancun Challenge tomorrow. Air Jordan From China .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Air Jordan Authentic . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. http://www.airjordanoutletsale.com/ . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Discount Jordans .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Cheap Air Jordan Outlet Store . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. STORRS, Conn. -- Katie Lou Samuelson was expected take on more of the scoring load for UConn this season and is meeting those expectations.The sophomore put up a career-high in points for the second consecutive game Tuesday night. Her 29 led the nations second-ranked team to a 98-65 win over Dayton.Samuelson, who had 28 points on Sunday against LSU, hit 10 of her 17 shots and was 4 of 8 from 3-point range. She also had six assists and pulled down six rebounds.I know I got a lot of 3s against LSU and Im not going to get that every game, she said. So I just tried to do more than just stand on the 3-point line.Gabby Williams tied her single-game high with 19 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and had a career-high five assists for the Huskies (4-0). Napheesa Collier chipped in with 22 points to help extend the nations longest winning streak to 79 games.Jenna Burdette and Lauren Cannatelli each scored 15 for Dayton (2-2), which had won two straight.The Flyers led 10-5 midway through the first quarter. Burdette had five points during that run. But the Huskies scored the next 15 and led 22-13 going into the second quarter.Samuelson had 20 points by intermission and it was 51-31 at halftime.UConn made 48.7 percent of its shots and outscored the Flyers 50-30 in the paint.We got some easy buckets, which we didnt get at LSU or Baylor , UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. We got a couple tonight and that really helped. And once again, if you shoot the ball well, everything looks good.THE BIG PICTUREUConn: The Huskies streak seems almost certain to reach at least 80 games, but after that things could get interesting again. UConn began the season with wins over two top-12 opponents in Florida State and Baylor. They play Chattanooga next, but face No. 18 DePaul, No. 14 Texas, top-ranked Notre Dame, No. 8 Ohio State and No. 6 Maryland, all before January. UConns winning streak is the third longest in college basketball history, behind only its own program record of 90 straight from 2008-10 and the UCLA mens record of 88 consecutive victories from 1971-74.Dayton: The Flyers had bounced back nicely after a season-opening loss at home to Quinnipiac, with road wins over Wiscoonsin and Princeton.dddddddddddd First-year coach Shauna Greens team was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 and believed a trip to Storrs could help prepare them for the conference season. She was pleased with the effort.I dont care about the score; I dont look at the scoreboard, said Green, who was an assistant until Jim Jabir resigned for personal reasons in September. Thats all weve been preaching -- you have to fight. It doesnt matter, just continue to play hard and with some energy and some passion.STAT OF THE GAMEThe Huskies had 27 assists on 37 baskets, with four players dishing out four or more. Freshman Crystal Dangerfield led the way with nine assists, followed by Samuelson (6), Williams (5) and Kia Nurse (4).OTHER STREAKSThe 79-game streak isnt the only run UConn is on. The Huskies have won 111 games against unranked opponents, 51 straight home games and 23 straight regular season non-conference games (116 of 120). Theyve also gone 853 games without losing back-to-back contests.POLL IMPLICATIONSUConns ranking likely wont be affected by this game. Barring any upsets, they should stay where they are until the Dec. 7 showdown with top-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend.UP NEXTUConn: After playing four games in nine days, the Huskies are off for the Thanksgiving holiday before hosting their first game off campus in Hartford on Nov. 29 against Chattanooga.Auriemma said the team wont practice again until Saturday . Most of the players will be traveling home. The others, he said, are invited to his house for turkey and lasagna.Weve been traveling a lot and I think the kids are tired, he said.Dayton: The Flyers are off to Bimini in the Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam, where they will face Georgia Tech on Friday and then either Missouri or Creighton.Thats three great teams from Power Five conferences, Green said. If we can get two wins down there, that just builds your resume for later on in March. I really want to see how we respond to this and see our mental toughness, see how we take this and use it to get better. ' ' '