Tigers hammer Alabama 84-63 in 'great win for Auburn'

AUBURN, Ala. – From the logo, Jared Harper launched the deepest of 3s, swishing a 30-footer that symbolized Auburn's scorching first half.

Alabama coach Avery Johnson immediately called timeout, but the pause served only to give the sold-out crowd more time to celebrate.

The Tigers remained red hot, amassing a 20-point halftime lead in Saturday's 84-63 rivalry win at Auburn Arena.

"I work on that all the time," said Harper, who scored 19 points and had five assists. "I just know if I can hit from that far out, then I can be able to hit when I'm closer to the line. I happened to be there, I saw an opening and had the confidence to be able to make a shot."

Harper and Bryce Brown combined for 42 points. Anfernee McLemore added 10 points including a pair of defense-extending 3-pointers, while Chuma Okeke filled the box score with nine points, five rebounds and four steals.

"I felt like we pressured the ball really well," said Brown, Auburn's leading scorer with 23 points.

Auburn made 13 steals, forced 21 turnovers and outscored Alabama 30-14 in points off turnovers.

"Our guys really stepped up," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I thought the effort and energy defensively was huge to turn Alabama over 21 times.  That's the closest we've looked to the kind of Auburn basketball that I like to see."

After missing its first five shots, a 3-pointer from Harper got Auburn going. The Tigers connected on 7 of 11 3-point attempts in the first half. For the game, Auburn hit 13 of 22 3-pointers, a 59.1 percent clip.

McLemore's 3-pointer and dunk off J'Von McCormick's assist completed a 13-0 run, part a 21-2 Auburn stretch that included Harper's long distance 3-pointer and turned an early deficit into a 25-11 lead.

After Alabama pulled within three, Auburn caught fire again, reeling off 17 unanswered points, culminated by Harper's steal and alley-oop to Brown for another slam. The Tigers ended the half on a 19-2 run and led 48-28 at intermission.

"We're going to go as No. 1 and No. 2 (Harper and Brown) take us," Pearl said. "One and two showed, while size matters, speed and quickness are important, too."

Alabama trimmed the deficit to 11 but Harper answered, drawing a foul on a corner 3-pointer and making the free throw for a 4-point play.

Twenty-two seconds later, J'Von McCormick assisted on Malik Dunbar's dunk. Just like that, Auburn led 60-43, and the crowd noise increased once again.

"I want to thank our fans for creating this environment," Pearl said. "I want to thank our students for standing in line all afternoon. The line was all the way down to the football stadium. I had never seen it like that."

John Petty led Alabama (13-8, 4-4) with 18 points.

"This a tough building to play in," Petty said. "You've just got to give credit to them, they shot the ball extremely well and they had their fans into the game. These are some of the best fans probably in the NCAA."

"They had more energy," Johnson said. "They outhustled us. They just did a great job. They were just the better team tonight. They feed off the crowd, they do a good job of playing with a lot of confidence in this building."

Auburn (15-6, 4-4) plays its third straight home game Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT against Florida on ESPNU.

"Great win for Auburn," Pearl said. "It just means more in the SEC and it just means more when you have an opportunity to beat Alabama."
 
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer