National Basketball Association
Auburn 85, Eastern Kentucky 64
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, November 17, 2016
Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, Alabama
Officials:
# Karl Hess, # Byron Jarrett, # Brian Shey
Attendance:
6987
By The Sports Xchange
Auburn used a 26-8 run at the midway point of the second half to pull away from Eastern Kentucky and win 85-64 Thursday night at Auburn, Ala.
The Tigers led just 50-48 with 13:00 remaining before the big run.
Mustapha Heron keyed the run for the Tigers and finished with 24 points, including 15 in the second half. He was 8 of 8 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Auburn is off to a 3-0 start for just the second time in the past 10 seasons. Danjel Purifoy helped the Tigers with 16 points and eight boards. Ronnie Johnson added 13 points.
Eastern Kentucky (1-2) was led by Nick Mayo with 22 points. Dillon Avare added 14 points for the Colonels. Eastern Kentucky was hurt by cold shooting from the outside, finishing just 8 of 33 from 3-point range. The Colonels also shot just 17 free throws (making 12), compared to 25 of 41 for the Tigers.
Auburn went 6 of 18 from 3-point range.
Eastern Kentucky led for most of the first half, but Auburn used a 9-0 run near the end of the first half to turn a four-point deficit into a five-point lead. A follow-up shot by Avare cut the Colonels' halftime deficit to 37-34.
The Tigers, who came into the game with almost half their field-goal attempts (53 of 113) coming from beyond the arc, tried the outside first Thursday. Seven of the Tigers' first eight attempts came from 3-point distance.
Auburn couldn't hit consistently from anywhere early. The Tigers missed 12 of their first 14 shots from the field, including 6 of 7 from the 3-point arc, in falling behind 17-12 at the midpoint of the first half. They finally stopped Eastern Kentucky's 15-2 run with an impressive follow-slam by Horace Spencer.
Eastern Kentucky used strong outside shooting (4 of 7 from 3-point range early) to assume the lead. The Colonels were led by Mayo with 11 first-half points. Purifoy led all scorers with 13 points before the break.
Top Game Performances
| Eastern Kentucky |
|
Auburn |
|
Nick Mayo 20 |
Scoring |
Mustapha Heron 24 |
|
Asante Gist 4 |
Assists |
Ronnie Johnson 4 |
|
Marlon Adams 4 |
Rebounds |
Mustapha Heron 10 |
|
Nick Mayo 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Mustapha Heron 7 |
|
Jaylen Babb-Harrison 2 |
Steals |
Danjel Purifoy 3 |
|
DeAndre Dishman 1 |
Blocks |
LaRon Smith 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Eastern Kentucky
|
64 |
32.8 |
8-33 |
12-16 |
9 |
28 |
1 |
6 |
14 |
| Auburn
|
85 |
45.8 |
6-18 |
25-42 |
14 |
50 |
4 |
9 |
15 |
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