The Auburn Tigers are one win away from collecting their first trophy of the 2024-2025 basketball season.
After a thrilling win against Iowa State to open the ‘Maui Invitational’, Auburn played a much fuller, albeit still stressful, 40 minutes in round two against No. 13 ranked North Carolina. Johni Broome and company started off the night sizzling early, building a lead as high as 18 points early in the first half.
The Tar Heels did manage to fight back with their high-paced attack, but a first half double-double by Johni Broome was enough to land the Tigers a 40-32 lead going into the half time locker room. Auburn opened up the second stanza much like the first, using phenomenal perimeter defense and timely shooting by Miles Kelly (15 points) and Denver Jones (10 points) to open up another near 20-point lead once again.
UNC again managed to hang around however, even without the normal scoring impact of star guard RJ Davis (12 points). Junior Seth Trimble (17 points) and senior Jae’Lyn Withers (10 points) were able to attack the bucket enough to keep Auburn’s lead barely above 10, but a lack of scoring from the Tar Heels bench and front court options kept the game mostly out of reach.
As for the Tigers, Chad Baker-Mazara (15 points), Chaney Johnson (11 points), and freshman Tahaad Pettiford (10 points), joined Broome (23 points, 19 rebounds), Kelly, and Jones in double figures. Although Pettiford finished with the lowest total among Auburn’s double-digit scorers, he had possibly the biggest impact in the middle of the second half. With UNC making a push, the freshman hit multiple big buckets, including a near-half court long ball that pushed Auburn’s lead to an insurmountable 18 points.
The strong 40-minute effort was amazing to see from an Auburn team that came out flat in the first half against Iowa State on Monday. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers will now have the opportunity to win the ‘Maui Invitational’, and prove Tiger supremacy, with a win against also undefeated Memphis tomorrow afternoon.
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