Jan. 4, 2006
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn shot a season-high 60.9 percent from the field and had three players score in double figures, led by Rasheem Barrett's 21 points as Auburn handed Southern Miss an 80-57 loss on Wednesday.
After Southern Miss (6-9) trimmed the Tigers' lead to seven (53-46), Auburn (8-3) responded with a 27-11 run to seal the game. The win by the Tigers' was their ninth straight win at home and eighth of the season.
"Offensively, we played well, head coach Jeff Lebo said. "We made shots, which makes it easier. We're playing a lot of smaller guys, and we've got to spread out more. Overall, we did a nice job moving the basketball."
Daniel Hayles matched his career high with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including three three-pointers. Ronny LeMelle scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while making 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
On top of shooting a season-high 60 percent from the field - matching last year's high of 60 percent at Temple - the Tigers also shot a season-high 58.3 (7-of-12) percent from three, topping the 50 percent they shot at PITT.
Trailing by 14 at the half, the Golden Eagles began the half on an 8-2 run to cut the Tigers lead to eight, 44-36, before Auburn stretched their lead back to 13, 51-38, with five straight points.
Trailing 23-19, Auburn used a 23-5 run and led 42-28 at the break. The Tigers shot 63.6 percent from the field on 14-of-22 shooting in the half.
The combination of Hayles, Barrett and LeMelle combined to score 33 of the Tigers' 42 points in the first half. Barrett led all scorers with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
After making their first seven shots of the game, the Tigers led 17-9 until the Golden Eagles fired back with a 9-0 run beginning at the 10:22 mark of the first half to take an 18-17 lead with 8:01 remaining in the half.
Southern Miss' David Cornwell scored the Golden Eagles first five points of the game and led the team with seven points at the half.
Auburn began the game 7-of-7 from the field, including three three-pointers, until Hayles missed a pull-up jumper at the 10:05 mark of the first half.
Leading the Golden Eagles was Cornwell, who scored 11 points, while collecting seven rebounds.
Auburn returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 7 when the Tigers open SEC play on the road at Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. The game will be televised by Jefferson Pilot.