Nov. 8, 2013
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AUBURN, Ala. -- Guards KT Harrell and Chris Denson combined for 41 points as the Auburn men's basketball team opened the 2013-14 season with a 76-54 win over Nicholls on Friday night at the Auburn Arena.
Harrell, a transfer from Virginia who sat out last season, scored 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and five free throws. The junior from Montgomery had 15 points at the half and scored Auburn's first five points of the game, hitting a 3-pointer just 15 seconds into the contest and then a layup just 40 seconds later.
Denson, a senior from Columbus, Ga., did most of his damage from the free throw line. He hit a career-high 11 free throws on 14 attempts while shooting 4-for-8 from the floor to finish with 20 points.
Auburn (1-0) led by eight at the half, 37-29, but used a 14-2 run midway through the second half to put the game away. Leading 54-39 with 11:47 left, Malcolm Canada (7 points, 5 rebounds) hit a free throw to start the run while Denson hit a layup to end it with 8:24 left and Auburn up 68-41. Denson would score a total of 8 points during the run, hitting a 3-pointer and three free throws to go along with his layup.
Tahj Shamsid-Deen, who became Auburn's first freshman to start a season-opener at the point since Quantez Robertson in 2005-06, finished with 5 points and 4 assists.
Center Asauhn Dixon-Tatum finished with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Auburn finished the game with a 39-34 edge on the boards and held Nicholls (0-1) to just 33.9 percent shooting from the floor, including 25 percent (6-for-24) from 3-point range.
Auburn hit on 28 of its 41 free throws while Nicholls attempted just 22, hitting 10.
Nicholls was led by T.J Carpenter and Jeremy Smith, who each scored 9 points.
Auburn returns to the court on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. when it plays host to Northwestern State at the Auburn Arena.