AUBURN-The No. 1 Auburn Tigers cruised to a lopsided win over No. 14 Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Neville Arena, 88-66.
It was the Tigers' eighth Quad 1 win on the season, and the first Quad 1 win in Neville Arena.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Baker-Mazara and Johnson lead the way
The duo of Chad Baker-Mazara and Chaney Johnson made it known very early that they would take over the game for the Tigers.
Auburn sprinted out to an early 10-0 lead behind the likes of Baker-Mazara's eight points and a putback from Johnson. That continued throughout the remainder of the first half as the two combined for 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting.
Baker-Mazara finished with a team-high 20 points, while Johnson stepped up big with 17 points in Broome's absence.
Others follow suit
Though Baker-Mazara and Johnson led the way in the first half, others quickly joined the party coming out of the locker room in the second half.
After going 1-for-4 in the first 20 minutes, Tahaad Pettiford splashed onto the scene with nine second half points, doing so in high-flying fashion with a breakaway windmill dunk that quickly got a sold-out crowd in Neville Arena on their feet. He has now scored in double figures in all of the Tigers’ SEC games this season.
Miles Kelly finished with his fifth-career double-double on a 13-point, 10-rebound performance.
AU checks Hubbard, Bulldogs’ offense
The Tigers played lockdown defense for most of the game – except for a 17-4 run from the Bulldogs a little over midway through the second half.
Josh Hubbard entered the game as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 17 points per game and 50 made 3-pointers – second in the league. Though he finished with a team-high 17 points for the Bulldogs, he did not score a bucket from the field until nearly 32 minutes of play, and scored 11 of his points from the charity stripe. As a team, Mississippi State shot just 22-of-63 from the field at a 35% clip.
The Tigers also sent away 10 blocked shots, with nine of those coming in the first half. Johnson led the way with four, with Baker-Mazara and Dylan Cardwell chipping in two apiece.
3-point shooting
Auburn hit double-digits from beyond the arc yet again, going 10-24 from deep (42%) with Baker-Mazara and Kelly both hitting three apiece and Pettiford hitting a pair. Auburn started off 8-of-15 – 7-of-13 in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs went a putrid 3-of-24 – a huge testament to Auburn’s defense – with Hubbard going 2-of-10 and Claudell Harris, Jr. chipping in another.
The Tigers will hit the road on Saturday to take on No. 23 Georgia. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT on SECN.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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