Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery
Nov. 20, 2005
AUBURN, Ala. - Ronny LeMelle set a new career high with 19 points to lead Auburn to a 69-54 season-opening victory over Lipscomb on Sunday afternoon at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
The Tigers connected on 12-of-26 three-point attempts en route to their eighth straight season-opening win.
"I thought we played extremely hard for the entire 40 minutes," head coach Jeff Lebo said. "There was some improvement today and we kept up defensively for the majority of the game. We kept them out of rhythm and they didn't shoot the ball particularly well against us. It is big for the guys to come out with a win. The kids are feeling good about themselves."
Three players scored in double figures, led by LeMelle's 19, which led all scorers. Rasheem Barrett scored 13 points and Daniel Hayles added 10 in the victory. Josh Dollard led the Tigers with 10 rebounds to go along with his eight points.
The Tigers (1-0) jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game and held Lipscomb (1-2) without a field goal until the 11:26 mark of the first half. The Tigers held a 37-26 lead at the break and shot 50 percent from the field in the half.
Behind the strength of a 16-6 run to start the second half, Auburn opened up its largest lead of the game on a basket by Hayles at the 11:51 mark to extend the Tigers' lead to 21 (53-32).
With the Tigers' lead at 21, the Bisons went on an 18-7 run of their own and narrowed the Tigers' lead to 10 (60-50) with 3:34 remaining before Auburn closed the game with a 9-4 run.
The Tigers shot 44 percent from the field for the game and held Lipscomb to just 29 percent from the field.
In the first half, Auburn shot 50 percent from the field and 24 of the Tigers' 37 first-half points came from beyond the arc, as they connected on 8-of-14 three-point attempts.
LeMelle and Barrett led all scorers at the break with 11 points.
The Bisons had two players score in double figures as Eddie Ard scored 13 and Cameron Robinson added 11.
Auburn returns to action on Friday, Nov. 25 when they host Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m. in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.