The No. 1 Auburn Tigers survived a second half scare against Vanderbilt on Tuesday behind strong second-half performances by Chaney Johnson and Johni Broome.
Coming off their first SEC loss Saturday against Florida, Auburn went up to Nashville looking for a bounce-back win against Vanderbilt. After a tough start for both teams, Auburn got hot from deep quickly. Denver Jones hit his first two three-pointers before Miles Kelly capped off the 13-0 run, forcing an early timeout for Vanderbilt.
On the other side of the court, Auburn’s defense started off great, letting up only four points going into the under-12 media timeout. After the timeout, however, Vandy started turning some of Auburn’s four turnovers into automatic points on the fastbreak. Easy baskets including a strong dunk by Chris Manon brought some life into the Vandy crowd, yet Auburn still couldn’t miss from the other end.
Vanderbilt looked for a momentum boost going into halftime, as they only trailed by four heading into the under-four minute media timeout. After a three-pointer by Nickel got the Commodores within two at half, Memorial Gymnasium looked to claim a third upset victory on the year.
Auburn’s first half offense was carried by Denver Jones, scoring 14 of the team’s 34 points, including four threes. Jones would stay hot coming out of the half, hitting a three right in the defender’s face.
Auburn made too many mistakes offensively coming out of halftime, which allowed Vanderbilt to take its first lead of the game 43-42. Vanderbilt’s quick pace allowed the crowd to erupt and forced Auburn to keep up early.
However, Chaney Johnson started to heat up right after, as he scored nearly every time down the court and willed the lead back up to near double digits.
The score wouldn’t get close again as the Tigers’ lead would be double digits the rest of the game. After a tough first half, Broome would finally get going by scoring 15 second-half points, wearing down the Commodores in the paint.
The big men for Auburn carried the second half for Auburn, combining for nearly 30 second-half points.
After the game, Bruce Pearl embraced the road fans coming to Nashville, thanking them for being it a more comfortable environment.
Auburn’s travels to Tuscaloosa Saturday for the first #1 vs. #2 Iron Bowl of Basketball. That game will be broadcast on ESPN at 3:00 p.m.
