The Auburn basketball team is in the win column for the first time this season. The Tigers took down the Southeastern Louisiana Lions on Friday in Neville Arena by a final score of 86-71.
Final scores can often be misleading, and this one fits the bill. Much of Auburn’s first win was sloppy, as [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag]’s squad struggled to pull away from a team picked to finish atop a historically bad Southland Conference.
The Tigers turned the ball over two more times and shot only 1% better than the Lions in this one, showing they still have plenty of work to do.
Auburn will surely take the win, however.
Junior center [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] led the way for the “Orange and Blue”, securing his second double-double of the season in a 16-point, 11-rebound effort.
Senior guard [autotag]K.D Johnson[/autotag] was the second leading scorer for the Tigers, pouring in 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Newcomers [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] and [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] were the only other Auburn players in double figures, scoring 11 and 12, respectively.
SE Louisiana junior guard Roger McFarlane led the game in scoring, making 9/23 shots from the field for 24 points. The 6 foot 5 guard also secured 11 rebounds.
McFarlane’s backcourt mate Roscoe Eastmond scored 15 points of his own in 35 minutes on the court.
This marks the second game in a row Auburn has struggled to guard the opponents perimeter players, showing the loss of [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag] may be a bigger deal than originally thought.
Bruce Pearl and Co. will hope to sure up the defense and the offensive inefficiency when they take on Notre Dame in the Legends Classic on November 16.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch