Eleven Auburn players scored as the Tigers rolled to an 87-62 win over UNC Asheville in the Rocket City Classic on Wednesday in Huntsville, Ala.
Tre Donaldson had a career-high 15 points, Chad Baker-Mazara added 11 and Denver Jones tallied nine points and five rebounds for Auburn.
Starters Aden Holloway (seven points, five assists), Jaylin Williams (eight points, three assists) and Johni Broome (six points, six rebounds, three assists) also had solid performances for a balanced Tigers’ scoring attack.
K.D. Johnson (six points) and Chaney Johnson (eight points) were productive off the bench for Auburn (7-2).
Leading scorer Drew Pember had 10 first-half points for UNC Asheville (5-6) and finished with a game-high 23.
Nick McMullen tallied 10 points and three rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Jamon Battle recorded six points and five boards.
Caleb Burgess had a team-high six assists, and Davion Cunningham had eight points and four rebounds off the bench for UNC Asheville.
Both teams came out cold at the outset of the game, and Auburn held a 7-5 lead with 15:10 to play in the first half.
K.D. Johnson and Dylan Cardwell helped the Tigers maintain a 17-14 lead with 11:07 to play in the opening frame by scoring a combined 10 points after Pember tied the game at 9-all.
After a Battle dunk gave the Bulldogs a 21-19 lead, a 9-0 run by Auburn, sparked by two Broome layups, put the Tigers up 28-21 with 7:35 to play in the first half.
A Trent Stephney 3-pointer trimmed Auburn’s lead to 28-24, but an 11-3 run put the Tigers up 39-27 at halftime.
The Tigers increased their lead to 50-33 with 15:39 to play in the second half behind two layups from Jones and a thunderous dunk by Chaney Johnson.
Two 3-pointers by Baker-Mazara and a layup by Donaldson extended Auburn’s lead to 60-37 with 12:43 to go in the game.
The Tigers’ lead ballooned to 74-45 on a layup by Lior Berman and a dunk by Williams.
–Field Level Media
