Tigers suppress rebellion, hold off Ole Miss 62-57 to reach SEC Semis
Auburn survived it's first contest of the SEC Tournament on Friday afternoon, although it wasn't an easy task against a rebellious Chris Beard led Ole Miss squad. Despite coming into the game as 12.5-point favorites, the top-seed in the SEC experienced far from an ambient evening in Music City.
Things started off ugly for the Tigers, as Bruce Pearl's historically efficient Tigers offense failed to muster more than a slight roar over the first quarter of the contest. With seniors Chris Moore and Dylan Cardwell in the starting lineup, Auburn scored just 3 points in the first 3 minutes, leading to an early 6-3 hole after Ole Miss forward Dre Davis started his afternoon with a quick 5 points.
Chaney Johnson and Tahaad Pettiford were forced into action quickly, but even the offensive minded Tigers lineup could not break free of a consistently gritty Rebels defensive attack. Johni Broome and Denver Jones led the way for much of the opening frame, with Tahaad Pettiford adding some late-half heroics to give Auburn a 29-22 advantage heading into the locker room.
While Jones and Broome accounted for over half (19) of Auburn's 29 first half points, it was and reserve Ja'Heim Hudson who may have provided the biggest sparks in the scoring department for the Tigers.
With the rock fight deadlocked at 15-14 midway through the half, Hudson, who his teammates enjoyable refer to as "Turtle", shell shocked the Ole Miss front court with a beautiful offensive put-back rebound, giving his team much needed momentum to finish the half on a 14-8 run. Hudson finished the half with the same amount of points as Ole Miss leading scorer Sean Pedulla, who managed just one field goal late in the frame.
Auburn's momentum lasted until the contest crept towards the final quarter, as the Tigers three possession lead slowly diminished once Pedulla (12 points), and star teammate Malik Dia (10 points), found consistency scoring the basketball. The Rebels climbed all the way back to tie the game at 46 a piece with 7 minutes remaining.
Then Johni Broome happened.
Broome, who has received a plentiful amount of 'Player of the Year' awards this week, tied the Auburn program record with his 18th double-double of the season on Saturday. He saved the best part of his 23-point, 15-rebound performance for the witching hour.
After Chaney Johnson knocked home a crucial corner 3-point shot to re-give Auburn a lead, Broome went on a personal 5-0 run, putting his squad safely out in front again, 54-47. That lead would stand until the final whistle, in large thanks to Broome's defensive efforts.
Denver Jones (13 points) was the only Tiger to reach double figures other than Broome. Chad Baker-Mazara, who played the fourth most minutes of any Tiger despite not starting, led Auburn with 6 assists.
The Tigers ended their first tournament game with a 62-57 victory, and will now await either Texas or Tennessee in the semifinal round tomorrow. Bruce Pearl's squad earned victories over both of those programs in the regular season, although neither win was necessarily pretty.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Tigers suppress rebellion, hold off Ole Miss 62-57 to reach SEC Semis
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