No. 12 Auburn avenges loss with rout of No. 16 Alabama

Jaylin Williams scored 26 points, Johni Broome added 24 points and No. 12 Auburn cruised to a 99-81 win over No. 16 Alabama in a Southeastern Conference matchup Wednesday night in Auburn, Ala.

Auburn (19-4, 8-2) pulled into a tie with Alabama (16-7, 8-2) and South Carolina (20-3, 8-2) for first place in the SEC standings.

Tre Donaldson added 14 points for the Tigers, who avenged a loss at Alabama two weeks ago. Chad Baker-Mazara finished with 13 points.

Mark Sears scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a losing effort for the Crimson Tide. Grant Nelson had 16 points before he fouled out, and Rylan Griffen had 14 points while shooting 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.

Alabama committed 15 turnovers, compared with five turnovers for Auburn.

The Crimson Tide never led in the second half.

Alabama pulled within 59-48 on a 3-pointer by Griffen with 17:13 to go.

The Tigers responded with an 11-2 run to make it 70-50 with 13:09 remaining. Broome made a pair of free throws to put Auburn on top by 20 points in front of a raucous home crowd.

The Crimson Tide fell behind by as many as 23 points with 1:55 to play. Denver Jones made two free throws to increase Auburn's advantage to 97-74 for its largest lead of the night.

Auburn raced to a 55-41 lead at the half.

The score was 20-18 in favor of Auburn when the Tigers went on a 12-0 run to seize a 32-18 lead with 10:01 remaining in the first half. Williams scored seven straight points to finish the run with a 3-pointer, a dunk and a pair of free throws.

Alabama answered with a 19-4 run to grab a 37-36 advantage with 4:39 left in the half. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. made two 3-pointers during the run, which also included a 3-pointer from Griffen.

Momentum swung back toward the Tigers, who finished the half with a 19-4 run of their own to seize a 14-point lead at the break. Williams capped the scoring with a dunk off a feed from Tre Donaldson.

—Field Level Media