Mississippi State (16-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) took advantage of a poor shooting performance by LSU to end a two-game conference skid that dropped the Bulldogs into second place in the conference's Western Division.
The Tigers (9-12, 0-7) shot 34.6 percent (18-for-52) from the field in the game and went 5-for-15 from beyond the arc.
Mississippi State opened the game on a 10-2 run and led 23-15 at halftime.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 37-21 in the opening minutes of the second half and never trailed.
Jarvis Varnado scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Barry Stewart and Phil Turner added 12 points each.
Tasmin Mitchell scored a game-high 26 points and had 10 rebounds. -----
Alabama heaved the ball down the court on the last play, but turned the ball over.
The Crimson Tide led 55-51 with 2:58 left in the second half on a 3-pointer by Anthony Brock. But Hargrove, who finished with 14 points, had a dunk and converted a three-point play to cut Alabama's lead to 57-56 2:02 left.
DeWayne Reed's free throw with 12 seconds remaining tied the game at 57-57 for the Tigers (11-11, 2-5 Southeastern Conference). Reed, who scored 10 points with six turnovers, stole the ball from Alabama's Mikhail Torrance and passed to Hargrove who was fouled then knocked down 1-of-2 foul shots to put Auburn up for good.
Tay Waller led Auburn with a game-high 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor.
Torrance had 13 points for the Crimson Tide (13-8, 3-4). -----
Darnell Dodson added 16 points in a rare start for the Wildcats (20-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference), who played like the nation's top-ranked team for long stretches in front of special guest LeBron James.
Kentucky built an early 19-point lead then made it hold up while the NBA superstar, a friend of coach John Calipari, watched from courtside.
Jermaine Beal led the Commodores (16-4, 5-1) with 19 points, but Vanderbilt couldn't pull off its second road upset of the week in a physical, whistle-plagued game that featured 58 fouls and very little flow. -----
The Gamecocks (13-8, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) trailed 63-54 with less than 10 minutes remaining and, except for Downey, didn't look anything like the club that took down No. 1 Kentucky 68-62 four nights earlier.
That's when Downey took control, scoring half of South Carolina's 24 points the rest of the way.
Georgia (9-10, 1-5) had a chance to tie or move ahead in the final seconds. But Dustin Ware missed the first of one-and-one foul shots with 3.5 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded to hold on.
Travis Leslie had 21 points to lead the Bulldogs, who have lost their last three games to South Carolina.
Downey, the SEC's leading scorer, has hit for 30 or more points in five of his seven league games this season.