AUBURN, Ala. – No. 11 Auburn started fast and never trailed, getting a combined 32 points from Johni Broome and Denver Jones to defeat Mississippi State 78-63 Saturday at sold-out Neville Arena.
"A good win against a good team. Mississippi State, it's like a second-round NCAA Tournament game," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "We played well early, shot it well early. Great balance from Auburn. Our strength is our 11.
"Great crowd tonight. Our Auburn family showed up. I think they like this team and I hope we get a great crowd in here for our last game, Senior Night against Georgia."
Broome led the Tigers with 17 points and six rebounds. Jones made three of Auburn's nine 3-pointers and scored 15 points.
"Coach always says this is the time to get hot, it's time to make a run," Broome said. "We don't want to lose any more games."
Chad Baker-Mazara and Jaylin Williams each added 10 points, with Williams going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in his 135th Auburn game, most in program history.
"It was good, especially at the Tennessee game, to be out there with my brothers and play with them again," said Williams, making his first start after missing one game and coming off the bench this week at Tennessee after a knee injury two weeks ago against Kentucky. "Being back at home and starting, the ovation was amazing. Everyone was happy for me to play again."
Leading by 17 at halftime, Auburn saw the Bulldogs heat up and pull within seven before Jones and Lior Berman made 3-pointers in an 8-0 Auburn run that put the Tigers on top 58-43.
"It was a classic case of playing uphill all night long," Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. "They stretched it out to double figures. They did an excellent job. They took the fight to us to start the game. They were more physical than us. Kudos to Coach Pearl, his staff and their players."
Chaney Johnson ended the first half with his second 3-pointer to give Auburn a 39-22 halftime lead.
"I thought Chaney Johnson was huge in the first half. Chaney can do a lot of things y'all haven't seen yet. He's got a lot of tricks in his bag," Pearl said. "I thought Denver Jones was terrific tonight. He guarded and made plays."
The Tigers made 54 percent of their shots in the half while holding State to 27.6 percent.
"Defense wins championships," Broome said. "We knew it was going to be a challenge on the defensive end, and we stepped up."
Jones' corner 3-pointer in transition from Tre Donaldson, one of Donaldson's game-high six assists with no turnovers, gave Auburn an early double-digit lead.
"I like Tre out there playing with freedom, confidence and accountability," Pearl said. "Both point guards did a good job taking care of the ball."
K.D. Johnson's corner 3 from Baker-Mazara extended the Tigers' advantage to 15 points, and Donaldson's jumper from the free-throw line pushed the lead to 19 with 3:57 to play in the half.
Josh Hubbard made 6 of 11 3-pointers and scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half for Mississippi State (19-10, 8-8).
Auburn (22-7, 11-5) plays its final regular season road game Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT at Missouri on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
"It's March and it's time to make shots, not take shots," Pearl said. "The guys have been putting in the work and that's what it takes to win."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
MISSISSIPPI STATE POSTGAME NOTES
» With the win, Auburn now leads 82-71 in the all-time series with Mississippi State. The Tigers have won seven of the last eight in the series. They lead 50-24 in games played on the Plains and have won four straight over the Bulldogs at Neville Arena, where the Tigers hold a 7-1 advantage in the series. The two teams split the regular-season series after MSU's 64-58 victory on Jan. 27 in Starkville.
» It was the 54th consecutive sellout at Neville Arena (9,121).
» Head coach Bruce Pearl is 13-5 lifetime against Mississippi State including 8-3 coaching Auburn. He is 6-2 at home (4-1 at Auburn).
» Auburn improved to 22-7 overall including 14-1 at Neville Arena. The Tigers are 11-5 in Southeastern Conference play on the season. The Tigers' 22 victories are tied for eighth-most in program history. It marks the fifth time in the last seven seasons Auburn has won at least 22 games and 11 conference games. The Tigers' five seasons with at least 11 SEC wins over the last seven seasons are tied with Tennessee and Kentucky for the most in the league over that time. All 22 of AU's victories this season have been by double digits.
» Auburn led 39-22 at halftime against the Bulldogs. It was the fifth time in SEC play that the Tigers have led a game by at least 17 points at the half. Auburn is 21-1 this season when leading at halftime.
» Auburn went 13-of-17 from the free throw line against Mississippi State. For the season, the Tigers have made 510 free throws, which is 10th most in school history.
» AU recorded 19 assists on 28 made field goals against Mississippi State. It was the Tigers' 15th game with at least 19 assists this season including seven in SEC play. Auburn went over 500 assists in a season for the eighth time in program history on Saturday, finishing the day with 515 assists, good for fifth in program history. Eight different players recorded an assist in Saturday's game for Auburn, led by Tre Donaldson's season-high-tying six assists.
» Auburn outscored Mississippi State, 26-13, in bench points. The Tigers have outscored their opponent in bench points in all but one game this season including the last 22 contests.
» Auburn blocked nine shots against Mississippi State, giving the Tigers 172 blocked shots on the season, which is tied with last year's squad for fifth in program history. Seven of the top eight team block totals for a season have come under Coach Pearl.
» Auburn placed four players in double figures led by Johni Broome's 17 points on 7-of-13 field goals and 1-of-2 from 3-point range to go with a team-high six rebounds, one block and one assist. It was Broome's 20th straight game in double figures.
» Broome's one block on Saturday tied him with Dylan Cardwell, who blocked two shots against Mississippi State, for eighth in program history with 144 career blocks.
» Denver Jones scored 15 points including 3-of-5 from deep against the Bulldogs. He added four rebounds, two steals and one assist on the day. It was Jones' second game this season with at least 15 points and his first since scoring a season-high 19 points against Vanderbilt on Jan. 31. It was also his sixth game in double figures over the last nine contests.
» Jaylin Williams set a new school record in career games played (135) formerly held by Frankie Sullivan. Williams scored 10 points, including 8-of-8 from the free-throw line, and added three rebounds, three assists and two blocks against Mississippi State. He passed Darrell Lockhart and tied Frank Tolbert for 22nd on Auburn's career scoring chart with 1,242 career points to date.
» Chad Baker-Mazara scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He has scored in double figures in 11 of Auburn's 16 SEC games this season.
