AUBURN, Ala. – Regaining its outside shooting stroke, No. 7 Auburn used balanced scoring and a sizzling second half to beat Murray State 93-88 Saturday at Auburn Arena.
All five starters scored in double figures, including a season-high 20 points from Samir Doughty on 6-of-7 shooting.
"I thought he was engaged, I thought he was assertive," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of Doughty. "He usually knows when he's doing right and when he's doing wrong before I need to tell him. Getting him going in a bigger way was really positive."
Austin Wiley, starting for the first time this season, scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds with zero turnovers in 26 minutes. Jared Harper also had a double-double, 12 points and 10 assists.
"We had really solid looks in the second half," Pearl said. "We did what we wanted to do offensively, Austin on the inside was really good."
Chuma Okeke added 17 points and five rebounds, and Bryce Brown scored 11, helping the Tigers outscore Murray State 55-53 in the second half. Auburn made 8 of 17 3-pointers in the second half (47.1 percent) while connecting on 13 of 34 for the game.
"That's how we win," said Brown, who shook off a pregame fever to play 33 minutes. "When everybody contributes, that's when we win, and that's when we're at our best."
Auburn outscored Murray State 28-8 during a decisive 7-minute stretch in the second half, turning a 6-point deficit into a 14-point lead.
Doughty's 3-pointer from the corner put Auburn ahead 57-56. After Murray State answered, Harper and J'Von McCormick hit 3-pointers to put the Tigers ahead to stay.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Anfernee McLemore made the most of his 11 minutes, taking two charges, putting back a teammate's miss and making a 3-pointer that gave Auburn a 73-61.
"He did a great job," Harper said of McLemore. "He's part of the reason we won that game. He was a big part of that run. We needed that push from him. I think all 10 players did something that contributed to this win."
Auburn led 38-35 after a hotly contested first half. Wiley led the Tigers with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and five rebounds. Brown added eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The Tigers built an 8-0 lead on 3-pointers from Okeke and Doughty, and a Wiley fast-break basket assisted by Harper, forcing Murray State to take a timeout.
The Racers rallied to take a 24-19 lead at the 9:14 mark, using an 8-0 run. Ja Morant scored nine points and had six rebounds in the first half.
Auburn answered with a 9-0 run to regain the lead. Brown tied the score at 26-26 on a fast-break dunk. Back-to-back steals by Okeke and Doughty led to Wiley baskets to put the Tigers ahead 30-26.
Morant led all scorers with 25 points for Murray State (8-2).
Auburn plays its final game before SEC play next Saturday against North Florida at Auburn Arena at 4 p.m.
"There will be some adjustments that I think will help us," Pearl said.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
