Jabari Smith collected 22 points, six rebounds and four assists as No. 19 Auburn routed Syracuse 89-68 Friday in the fifth-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Smith made 8 of 17 shots from the field and four of his eight 3-point attempts.
K.D. Johnson finished with 15 points and Devan Cambridge had 10 for the Tigers (5-1), who shot 50.7 percent from the field and outrebounded Syracuse 38-28 in the victory.
Auburn made 12 of 30 shots from 3-point range and had a 42-26 advantage in points in the paint.
Syracuse (3-3) received 17 points each from Cole Swider, Buddy Boeheim and Jesse Edwards. Edwards also had six rebounds.
Symir Torrence produced six points, five assists and four rebounds.
Both teams struggled to find much offense early, but the pace began to pick up after Buddy Boeheim knocked down a pair of 3-pointers for a 10-6 Orange lead at 16:06.
Torrence drained a three to put the Orange up 20-17 with 9:16 left to go back ahead in the tight contest.
On a layup while falling to the floor, Johnson spun the ball back into the hoop, giving Auburn a 29-25 advantage with 6:18 on the clock.
The Tigers outscored the Orange 14-8 over the remainder of the half to hold a 43-33 edge at the break.
Auburn shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including a 6-for-15 effort from behind the arc.
Smith made two 3-pointers to highlight his 10-point performance. Johnson added nine points.
Syracuse was successful on 43 percent shooting and made four of its eight 3-pointers. Buddy Boeheim led with 10 points and was 2-of-3 from long range.
In the second half, Auburn opened with an alley-oop dunk by Cambridge from Zep Jasper, and the Tigers promptly caught fire against the Orange on a 12-3 run to lead 55-36.
The Orange went on a 10-2 run to get it to 64-54 with 8:08 left, but they could never get the game to single digits as Auburn pulled away.
–Field Level Media
