Auburn Wins Battle of the Threes
1/2/2010 11:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Auburn, Ala. - Auburn counted on balanced scoring and hit a season best 13 three-point field goals to pull to a 95-75 win over Georgia Southern at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Saturday (Jan. 2) afternoon. The Tigers' Brendon Knox scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers off the bench. Senior guard Antonio Hanson (Fort Worth, Texas) hit five three-pointers and added a free throw to lead the Eagles with 16 points. Sophomore forward Colby Wohlleb (Boca Raton, Fla.) had 10 points, all in the second half, for his second straight game in double figures.
"Auburn shot the ball well, and that probably had a lot to do with us," said Eagles head coach Charlton Young. "Our problems are on the defensive end of the floor and we are going to keep on working on it, that's all we can do. Our first (non-conference) season is over, we've played seven of our last eight games on the road and we're going to play at home for most of this month. We are just now getting everybody available to play and we'll finally have a chance to develop our identity as a team."
Down by six at the half, 33-39, the Tigers and Eagles kept within eight to 10 points to the first media timeout of the second half. Auburn was hitting 66.7 percent to the Eagles 33.3 percent over the first four and a half minutes. The Tigers' hot shooting cooled off slightly, to 54 percent, but they finished the half at 60 percent and 57.1 percent for the game.
Freshman forward Cameron Baskerville (Marietta, Ga.) came out of the first media timeout with a quick jumper and Auburn's Lucas Hargrove countered with a basket in the paint. Hanson hit a three pointer off a Willie Powers III (Gainesville, Fla.) pass to get the Eagles within eight, 45-53. Knox scored the next six straight points for the Tigers and Frankie Sullivan nailed a three-point bucket, interrupted only by junior forward Rory Spencer's (Atlanta, Ga.) layup, to stretch the Auburn lead to 15, 62-47.
Over the next two minutes, the teams traded free throws with the same irregularity as their shots before Knox hit a jumper and free throw off a Wohlleb foul. Tay Waller hit back-to-back threes to give the Tigers a 9-2 swing and 23-point advantage. With more free throws over the next 90 seconds, Hanson and Wohlleb broke the basket-less stretch, with Hanson hitting two treys and Wohlleb adding another. Layups by Powers and Johntavious Rucker (Decatur, Ga.) countered Tiger scoring and Wohlleb hit his second trey to pull the Eagles closer, 70-85. Andre Malone would hit back-to-back threes for the Tigers, and the bench would add four more points. Wohlleb scored four more points with a free throw and his third trey in the last minute of the game.
Josh Wallace and DeWayne Reed had nine points each with three three-point field goals to lead Auburn into the locker room at the half. Georgia Southern shot 46.2 percent for the first half and had a15-14 advantage on the boards. Hanson, Powers and Perry each had six points at the half with senior forward Tyler Troupe (Gallatin, Tenn.) and Rucker contributing five points.
Auburn's Sullivan hit a three to begin the game and took a brief six-point lead before Troupe hit a trey and senior forward Sandy Perry (Perth Amboy, N.J.) hit a layup and two free throws to make it a one-point game early on. Sullivan would hit two more threes in the half to give Auburn a six-point advantage, 18-12. Hanson hit a three and Powers nailed a jumper in the paint to pull Georgia Southern within three. Troupe scored a layin off a fast break from a Powers defensive rebound and Perry had a dunk to complete a 9-4 Eagle run and 21-22 score with 8:17 left in the half.
Three straight three-point goals, two by Reed and one by Malone over the next four minutes helped put the Tigers back up by nine. Powers hit a jumper in the lane and the "and one" put the game back at two possessions. Hanson's second trey followed by a jumper by Rucker quickly trimmed the Auburn lead to five. The Eagles got it down to four off an Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) free throw, but Knox had one last basket before the end of the half.
Johnson who has missed the last six games with a foot injury had four points, four assists and four rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
The Eagles finally return home on Wednesday, Jan. 6 for a 7 p.m. game vs. Southern Conference foe Chattanooga at Hanner Fieldhouse. All Junior Eagle Club members will be admitted free when they show their Junior Eagle Club ID at the door.
