FAYETTEVILLE – The #25/24 Auburn Tigers ended the first half with a 7-1 run to lead by seven at the break then opened the second period with a 16-5 run en route to an 83-51 victory over Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in the teams’ SEC Opener Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers shot 57.6 percent (19-of-33) in the second half while holding the Razorbacks to 22.2 percent (6-of-27) in the period.
Auburn had four players score in double figures. Chad Baker-Mazara led the way with 16 (14 in the first half). Johni Broom added 14 points (all in the second half) and eight rebounds while Jaylin Williams and Tre Donaldson each scored 11. Donaldson also had seven rebounds.
Keyon Menifield Jr., led the Razorbacks with 14 points, making 4-of-9 3-pointers. He made a 3-pointer with 12:19 left to cut the Razorback deficit to 12 (53-41) but that was as close Arkansas could get. Trevon Brazile finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Razorbacks were down seven at the break (37-30) thanks to the 14 bench points from Baker-Mazara. Auburn used its transition offense to out-score Arkansas 15-6 on fast breaks and 24-14 in points in the paint in the period.
The next two games for the Razorbacks will be on the road and Arkansas will stay on the road from Tuesday through Saturday. The first game of the swing is at Georgia on Wednesday (Jan. 10) at 9 pm (ET)/8 pm (CT) and the game will be on ESPN2. Arkansas will then play at Florida on Saturday (Jan. 13) at 2:00 pm (ET)/3:00 pm (CT) on ESPN.
