Denver Jones matched his career high of seven 3-pointers and scored a season-best 21 points and Johni Broome added 14 points as No. 13 Auburn built momentum for next week’s SEC tournament with a 92-78 victory Saturday over visiting Georgia.
Jaylin Williams scored 13 points and Dylan Cardwell added 10 as the Tigers (24-7, 13-5 SEC) wrapped up a No. 4 seed at next week’s conference showdown while earning a double bye. Chaney Johnson and Broome shared team-high assist honors with five each for Auburn, who had 29 assists on 33 made baskets from the floor.
Auburn closed out the regular season with four victories in their last five games on a run that started with a victory at Georgia on Feb. 24. The only loss in that stretch was 92-84 to Tennessee, which already has wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the SEC tourney.
Silas Demary Jr. scored 15 points for Georgia (16-15, 6-12), which lost for the 10th time in 12 games. Russel Tchewa had 14 points with 10 rebounds and Noah Thomasson added 12 points for the Bulldogs
Georgia shot 42.2 percent from the floor and 31.8 percent from 3-point range but did get the best of the rebounding battle 38-36.
Auburn got off to a fast start, taking an 11-2 lead less than four minutes into the game and getting its first double-digit lead at 14-4 with 15:32 left in the first half. The Tigers led by as many as 14 points multiple times in the opening half, including 45-31 at halftime when Williams delivered a fastbreak dunk at the buzzer.
The Tigers took their biggest lead at 60-39 with 14:44 remaining on a layup from Cardwell and never let the Bulldogs within 12 points the rest of the way.
Jones went 3 of 5 from 3-point range in the first half for Auburn and went 4 of 4 from distance in the second half. The Tigers went 11 of 23 on 3-pointers (47.8 percent) in the game.
–Field Level Media