LEXINGTON, Ky. – One down, five to go.
Miles Kelly tied Bryce Brown’s March Madness program record with seven 3-pointers to lead top-seeded Auburn to an 83-63 victory over 16th-seeded Alabama State Thursday at Rupp Arena in the NCAA Tournament round of 64.
“Give Alabama State credit,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “I thought we lacked some effort and energy, some focus. Thank God Miles Kelly didn’t. We had a couple guys really step up. We need to play better.”
One of four Tigers in double figures, Kelly led Auburn with 23 points, hitting his seventh 3 with 2:23 to play to tie the record Brown – another sharpshooter from Stone Mountain, Georgia – set vs. Kansas during the Tigers’ Final Four run in 2019.
“I’m a shot maker,” said Kelly, who was 7-for-15 from long range. “My teammates did a great job of finding me. All I had to do was knock down the shot. It’s cool to do something like that, especially in March. Bryce Brown was a great shooter for Auburn. It’s special.”
Tahaad Pettiford added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“I thought his presence was a huge spark for us coming off the bench,” Pearl said.
“I’ve been in the gym ever since the Tennessee game,” Pettiford said. “Getting back to it feels amazing, getting a win with my guys, and trying to get ready for Saturday.”
Johni Broome scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while Chaney Johnson chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds. Denver Jones added eight points, a game-high six assists and four rebounds.
Leading by 10 at the half, Auburn turned up the defensive intensity while doubling its lead within the first seven minutes of the second half.
Pettiford drew a foul while banking in a 3-pointer for a 4-point play before Jones hit a 3-pointer.
After Pettiford and Jones both scored in the paint, Dylan Cardwell delivered the highlight of the game, grabbing an offensive rebound, circling the key and driving the lane for a thunderous dunk.
“Our team chaplain, Jeremy Napier, he’s been telling me the past three years to start faking handoffs and start dunking it,” said Cardwell, who grabbed eight rebounds. “I finally listened to him. Being more patient, the lane opened up. It was nice going on a run here in Kentucky again.”
Kelly gave the Tigers a 20-point lead by making a steal, running the floor and scoring in transition after Pettiford’s assist, adding his sixth 3-pointer a few minutes later.
Broome continued his history-making season with a 3-point play that gave the All-American his 19th double-double of the season, breaking the program record he shared with Mike Mitchell (1974-75).
“It means a lot to solidify my name in Auburn history,” said Broome, who was 5-for-6 on 2-point field goals attempts.
Kelly, who says he fell in love with the Rupp rims earlier this month while making nine 3-pointers in Auburn’s March 1 win over Kentucky, made three 3s before the first media timeout to give the Tigers a 12-5 lead.
“I love Rupp rims,” Kelly said. “All they had to do was find me, get me good looks and I was going to knock the shot down.”
After Kelly sank his fourth 3-pointer minutes later, the Tigers looked inside to Chaney Johnson, who made three consecutive baskets in the paint to give Auburn a 13-point lead with 8:02 to play.
“My team trusted me and gave the ball in that spot, opening the zone,” Johnson said. “It was up to me to make a play.”
The Hornets rallied from there, using a 9-0 run to get within four before failing to tie or take the lead by missing a pair of free throws with 1:27 remaining.
Auburn closed the half on a 9-0 run, with Broome hitting a baseline jump hook and drawing a foul. He missed the free throw, but Johnson battled for the rebound which Jones controlled from the floor and passed to Kelly in the corner for his fifth 3-pointer, a 5-point possession.
“It was huge for us and for our energy,” Kelly said of the sequence. “Alabama State just came off a run, so we needed to make plays in order to get back on our run.”
Broome scored on a putback with 26 seconds left before Pettiford gave the Tigers a 41-31 halftime lead with a runner in the closing seconds.
Auburn (29-5) advances to Saturday’s round of 32 against ninth-seeded Creighton (25-10), an 89-75 winner over eighth-seeded Louisville in Thursday’s first game, with tipoff time yet to be determined.
“They’re really good, they’re really old, they’re really smart, they’re really big, they’re really tough,” Pearl said. “They're not going to beat themselves. We'll have a great game plan together, but it's going to be a very, very tough second round for us. We’ll have to play a lot better to beat them.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer