Feb. 11, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Ronnie Brewer and Jonathon Modica scored 28 of their combined 36 points in the second half as Arkansas (16-7, 5-5) pulled away from Auburn (10-11, 2-8) to claim a season sweep with an 84-64 victory before 17,679 in Bud Walton Arena. Associate head coach John Cooper filled in for Tigers head coach Jeff Lebo, who spent the entire game lying on a table in the dark locker room sick with the flu.
"I had butterflies, but once the game started, they went away," Cooper said. "We wanted to come out and execute. We start four freshmen, but at this stage of the season freshmen are sophomores. We are just looking for them to go out, get better and execute every game."
Brewer scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half while his backcourt mate Modica finished with 17 points, including 12 in the second half. Auburn, which led on six different occasions in the first half, scored the first four points of the game and stayed with the Razorbacks the whole first period.
A Ronny LeMelle layup after a Quantez Robertson steal gave the Tigers a 30-29 lead with 2:01 before the half. That is the last lead Auburn would have. Arkansas went on a mini 5-1 run to hold a 36-31 halftime edge.
Josh Dollard scored the first basket of the second half to bring the Tigers to within three and a Korvotney Barber layup had Auburn to within 50-44 with 12:32 remaining. However, the Tigers had another second half drought as they went the next 5:46 without a field goal and trailed 65-49 before a Dollard layup with 6:44 left.
"Arkansas played well in the second half," Cooper said. "We struggled against their length and size tonight. They made shots and played well against our two-one zone defense. They executed well. Ronnie (Brewer) got going. What was really impressive was he had six assists to no turnovers."
Arkansas shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and 57 percent for the game and made 20-of-27 (.741) from the foul line. Auburn shot 37 percent from the field. Barber scored a career-high 14 points while LeMelle added 13 and Dollard and Barrett 11 each.
Auburn closes out its brutal stretch of playing four of five SEC games on the road at 11th-ranked Tennessee (18-3, 9-1) Wednesday at 6:30 pm Central.