Dec. 16, 2017
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Behind a 29-12 run to open the game, the Auburn basketball team took a 76-70 decision against Middle Tennessee Saturday night in at Legacy Arena. The Tigers (9-1) forced a season-high 24 turnovers in the 40-minute contest.
"We played better than I thought we would early, coming out of finals and not having played in a week," head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Our guys were really in tuned with the gameplan.
"I thought we did a good job and I thought we bothered them with our defense."
Mustapha Heron and Jared Harper led the way with 16 points apiece on a combined 7-of-12 from the floor and 14-of-18 from the foul line. Heron also added six rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes of action.
Harper dished out a game-high seven assists and hit a team-best three shots from downtown.
Auburn also got key contributions off the bench from Chuma Okeke and Horace Spencer. Okeke scored 14 points and had five rebounds, while Spencer tallied a season-high 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field and had seven boards.
As a team, the Tigers won the rebounding battle, 34-29, marking the 10th consecutive game they have outrebounded their opponents - a feat that was only accomplished 10 times last season.
Auburn raced out to another big lead after scoring 29 of the first 41 points in the first 11-plus minutes of the neutral-site tilt. Heron racked up 10 points early to guide the team.
The two teams traded buckets to close out the half as the Tigers maintained a 17-point margin into the locker room, 42-25.
Auburn's biggest lead of the game came four minutes after intermission when a jumper from Bryce Brown extended the lead to 25 at 53-28.
However, Middle Tennessee (7-2) battled back and cut the deficit to nine with just over five minutes left in the contest, marking the first time the contest with within single digits since Auburn led 17-9 with 12:13 left in the first half.
The Blue Raiders would get as close as six, but it was the Tigers that prevailed, 76-70.
Middle Tennessee was guided by Giddy Potts who had 19 points and four steals. Nick King, the No. 5 scorer in the nation coming into the game, was held to 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting and committed seven turnovers.
Auburn returns to the hardwood Tuesday when it travels to Murray State for a 7 p.m. tip on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The game can be heard on the Auburn Sports Network and will be broadcast for free on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.