ASU-AUBURN: Tigers wear down Hornets in South Region first-round showdown
Alabama State’s Amarr Knox goes up for a layup against Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara in the first round game at Rupp Arena on Thursday. The Tigers advanced with a 83-62 victory. (Courtesy Alabama State Media Relations)
By GRAHAM DUNN
LEXINGTON, Ky - There were no last-second desperation shots for the Alabama State Hornets this time.
But there were moments when the overwhelming underdogs got under the skin of the overall top seed of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Auburn fought off a pesky Hornet squad, using a late run in the final minutes of the first half to pull away for what became an 83-63 win over Alabama State in the first round of the NCAA South Regional at Rupp Arena on Thursday.
The win puts the top-seeded Tigers (29-5) in the second round where if will face Creighton on Saturday.
The Tigers struggled with shooting for much of the contest, finishing 45 percent from the field but they did hit 11 3-pointers, led by Miles Kelly, who knocked down seven of those to help Auburn avoid what would have been a major upset.
“We made some plays that caused (Auburn) to call time out,” ASU coach Tony Madlock.
“We just weren’t sharp,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “One thing you can control. Our teams always play with great effort and energy too or our system doesn’t really work. I just didn’t think we did today.”
The Hornets had reached the first round with a miraculous shot to beat St. Francis on Tuesday. But Friday’s game was more about making shots than Hail Mary passes.
ASU struggled in rebounding with Auburn winning the boards, 46-36, with 14 of those on the offensive end. The Hornets shot 41 percent in the first half but struggled to match that number in the second.
After falling behind as many as 13 points in the first half, the Hornets had a chance to tie the game with 90 seconds left but Amarr Knox missed two free throws and Auburn followed with a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
“Definitely should have made those,” Knox said. “But we tried to come together after that.
“It was a great feeling to come back; we felt it from the crowd.”
Auburn came out of the second-half locker room and quickly added to its lead, up to 16 by the 15:33 mark of the half. That lead grew to as many as 24 points in the final three minutes of the game.
“They were a formidable opponent,” Pearl said of the Hornets. “We didn’t play our best but they had a lot to do with it. I give them a great deal of credit.”
Knoxx and TJ. Madlock scored in double figures, with 18 and 11 points, respectively.
Kelly’s 23 points led Auburn while Tahaad Pettiford added 16. Johni Broome was held below his scoring average with 14 points.
ASU (20-16) finished with its first 20-win season in 16 years and made its first appearance in the tourney since 2011.
“It is so hard for an HBCU team to get to 20 wins,” Tony Medlock said. “You have to fight through that non-conference schedule and the SWAC is a really good basketball league. You are trying to figure out how to stack up wins.
“We got hot to get to this point. We said, ‘let’s get hot.’ And we were able to do that.”