Johni Broome scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds Saturday night as Auburn never trailed in a 101-66 nonconference pounding of Chattanooga in Auburn, Ala.
Broome made 9 of 12 shots from the field in just 20 minutes for the Tigers, who improved to 10-2 and stretched their winning streak to five games. Jaylin Williams made all nine of his shots and added 21 points, while Chad Baker-Mazara came off the bench to tally 13.
Honor Huff scored 15 points to pace the Mocs (8-5) and Sam Alexis added 13 but it wasn’t close to enough. Chattanooga made just 36.1 percent of its field goal attempts, including an 11 of 33 performance from the 3-point line, and was dominated on the glass 46-23.
Auburn purred along on the offensive end to the tune for a season-high 56.1 percent from the field, including 11 of 25 from the 3-point line, and drew 23 assists on 37 made buckets. The Tigers boasted huge advantages of 43-20 in bench scoring, 52-20 in paint points and 14-0 in fast-break points.
Playing its first game in eight days, Auburn didn’t mess around. It scored the game’s first 12 points, holding the Mocs scoreless until Alexis canned a 3-pointer with 15:22 left. Broome was the early shape-shifter offensively with eight points.
Broome made a short jumper and another layup to get the Tigers to 31 points inside the game’s first 10 minutes, upping their lead to 17. The margin reached 20 for the first time when Aden Holloway made two free throws with 8:44 left for a 35-14 cushion.
Broome finished off a 14-point first half by converting a Baker-Mazara feed into a layup with 20 seconds remaining, making the halftime lead 49-27. Auburn made 19 of 36 attempts from the field and held Chattanooga to 9 of 30 accuracy from the floor.
Dylan Cardwell’s layup with 13:06 left in the game upped the Tigers’ lead to 30 for the first time and it stayed there for most of the game’s remainder.
–Field Level Media