Feb. 15, 2006
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Chris Lofton scored 25 points and JaJuan Smith added a career-high 19 to lead No. 8 Tennessee to a 105-89 victory over Auburn on Wednesday night that included a school-record 16 3-pointers.
C.J. Watson added 18 points, Patterson had 15, Major Wingate 12 and Stanley Asumnu 10 for the Volunteers (19-3, 10-1), who won their eighth straight Southeastern Conference game.
Auburn (10-12, 2-9) has not won on the road this season. The Tigers got career nights from Ronny LeMelle and Quantez Robertson. LeMelle had a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds, while Robertson added a career-high 17 points.
Tennessee lost 62-59 at Auburn last season, but the game wasn't close this time.
The Vols opened with an 8-0 run and the closest the Tigers got was five points. The Vols led by as many as 17 points.
Auburn cut it to 35-25 on Robertson's 3-pointer with 2:10 left, but Tennessee went on a 7-0 run to finish the first half.
Tennessee pushed its lead to 67-44 on Patterson's three-point play and a basket by Asumnu with 12:15 remaining. Auburn rallied with a 9-0 run that included consecutive baskets by Korvotney Barber to cut it to 14 with 9:57 left.
Lofton ended the spurt with a 3 that bounced off the rim and in. LeMelle scored for Auburn, but Lofton made two free throws and Smith had a 3 to restore the 20-point lead with 8:52 to go.
The starters stayed in the game and scored the most points since beating East Tennessee State 106-83 in the season opener.
Also scoring in double figures for the Tigers was Korvotney Barber with 14, Frank Tolbert with 13 and Rasheem Barrett added 11 for Auburn.
The Tigers outscored Tennessee 64-63 in the second half en route to scoring an SEC-high 89 points. The Tigers shot 67 percent from the field, while making 8-of-10 threes in the second frame. The Tigers also made all eight free-throw attempts in the second half.
Lofton was selected the SEC player of the week after scoring 31 points at Kentucky and 33 points at Georgia last week. He made his first 3 with 1:42 remaining in the first half, and scored 22 points in the second half.
Meanwhile, Patterson was scoring inside, and the Vols had 12 steals. Tennessee leads the SEC in steals at 9.2 per league contest.
Auburn coach Jeff Lebo was back on the bench after spending the Tigers' last game at Arkansas in the locker room because he had the flu.
Auburn returns to action on Saturday, when the Tigers face LSU at 5 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.