AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn’s men's basketball team extended their hot start to the season against Northern Alabama Monday. Auburn came into Neville Arena Monday with a blowout win over Kent State last Wednesday, looking for another before playing against No.5 Iowa State in the Maui Invitational next week.
Auburn got another blowout, defeating North Alabama 102-69 Wednesday behind a great defensive performance and a second half where they almost couldn’t miss.
Chad Baker-Mazara scored Auburn’s first six points off two early three-point shots but early mistakes on the defensive end let North Alabama stay in the game. Defense for Auburn started out cold with five fouls but started forcing multiple missed shots, allowing Auburn’s fast offense to go on the break. Denver Jones got hot right after, extending the lead to nine, scoring back to threes himself.
Even with Auburn's great 8 of 12 start from the field, North Alabama stayed in the game early, drawing five early fouls from a great Auburn defense. After a tight game going into the second media timeout, Auburn’s crowd surprisingly felt dead after what seemed like an eternity without scoring but two Dylan Cardwell putbacks brought them back alive.
It seemed like it would be a North Alabama upset over Auburn as they gave the Tigers a scare only five minutes before the half as they took a 33-32 lead. Then Auburn’s own preseason All-American started taking over on both sides of the court.
To quote instagram star “lethal shooter,” Auburn’s offense said “I understand it now” going on a 18-4 run to end the half. Johni Broome started, scoring seven straight points on the offensive end and forcing multiple missed shots on the other end before Chaney Johnson exploded with a highlight reel windmill dunk. Following another highlight by Johnson on the defensive end, Johni scored the last four points of the half, pushing the lead to 13 at the half.
At the half, Auburn looked to continue their late first-half momentum as Johni led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds on an efficient 8 of 10 from the field.
The crowd erupted early in the second half after a block by Johni Broome, putting more early pressure on North Alabama’s offense. Auburn’s offensive momentum carried over into the second half as Miles Kelly and Denver Jones hit big threes, furthering the Tiger’s lead to 17 as both teams headed to the media timeout.
Coming out of the media timeout, Auburn did not slow down for a minute as Johni Broome hit a huge and-one after a huge block by CBM.
Dylan Cardwell couldn’t let Broome be the only big man with highlight plays as he would make the crowd active again by finishing a huge alley-oop before an amazing over-the-head heave forcing it out on a North Alabama player. Mr. Hypeman himself would get another key defensive play a couple seconds later, hitting a shot into the second row. The rest of the half was a much-needed quiet, until a very busy last minute and a half, heading into one of the biggest tournaments of the year.
After the game, when asked about his incredible performance and his mindset heading into it, Johni said, “Coming into today, it was just scoring the ball or rebounding the ball, team kind of needed it in those moments, so I just wanted to win today.”
Bruce Pearl backed his team’s most valuable player tonight, saying, “Johni proved why he was an All-American, he was the best player on the court.” Broome will have to keep playing like that next week against the fifth ranked Iowa State.
The Tigers play Iowa State next week in the first round of the Maui Invitational next Monday at 6:30. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
