Jaylin Williams racked up 20 points and Johni Broome had 16 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and three steals as Auburn overwhelmed visiting Alabama State 82-62 Friday night.
Auburn (9-2) won its fourth game in a row, while its nonconference homecourt winning streak reached 50 games. The Tigers have won all five home games this season.
Auburn received 13 points from reserve K.D. Johnson, who hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He made half of the Tigers’ six treys.
Isaiah Range and TJ Madlock each scored 16 points for Alabama State (4-7), which lost to a power-conference team for the sixth time this season. Kendal Parker added 14 points off the bench.
Madlock, who has been the Hornets’ leading scorer at 16.2 points per game, had a scoreless first 22 minutes.
Range and Parker were the only Alabama State players with more than one field goal until the final 15 minutes.
Auburn had some inconsistent moments in the second half, but a comfortable margin through 20 minutes left the Tigers in good shape. They didn’t score in the second half until almost 2 1/2 minutes elapsed.
It was the first meeting in 14 years between the in-state teams.
Auburn led 46-25 at halftime, grabbing control with an 18-4 run that was capped by Aden Holloway’s 3-pointer with less than eight minutes to play in the first half.
The Tigers kept it up by scoring 20 points in the last seven minutes of the half. That included scoring nine of the last 11 points of the half, also ending with a Holloway 3-pointer. Bench players had 22 of the team’s first-half points.
The Tigers, who shot 57.1 percent from the field in the first half compared to Alabama State’s 33.3 percent, also had almost half of their first-half points in the paint with 22.
Of their five 3-pointers, three came from reserves. Auburn’s main glitch came from 12 turnovers before the break.
–Field Level Media