Top-seed Auburn pulls away to dispatch Alabama State

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Miles Kelly scored a game-high 23 points to lead Auburn, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, to an 83-63 victory over 16-seed Alabama State on Thursday in a first-round South Region game.

Kelly finished 7 of 15 from 3-point range while player of the year candidate Johni Broome overcame a slow start to finish with 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers pulled away in the second half. Tahaad Pettiford finished with 16 points for Auburn.

Auburn (29-5) advances to the second round against ninth-seed 9 Creighton, which earned an 89-75 victory over Louisville.

Amarr Knox had 18 for Alabama State (20-16), while TJ Madlock added 11 and CJ Hines chipped in with nine points. Knox hit the buzzer-beating layup against Saint Francis (PA) in the First Four to get the Hornets into the first round.

Kelly got the Tigers off to a fast start by hitting his first four 3-point attempts as Auburn took an 18-8 lead less than eight minutes into the game.

Alabama State wouldn't go quietly in the first half. Following a Broome turnover in the lane, the Hornets missed back-to-back 3-point attempts. But they grabbed the offensive rebound each time, including an Ubong Okon putback to cap a 9-0 run and draw Alabama State within 28-24 with 5:31 left in the first half.

With Auburn missing nine straight shots, the Hornets had a chance to take the lead late in the first half, but Knox was short with a pair of free throws with 1:27 remaining. Auburn responded by scoring the final nine points to take a 41-31 halftime lead.

After the Hornets drew to within eight in the opening 30 seconds of the second half, Auburn answered with an 13-3 run, featuring a four-point play from Pettiford and a 3-pointer from Denver Jones to open the lead to 54-36.

Auburn went up 71-51 with 5:21 remaining and never saw its lead drop under 20 points the rest of the way.

--By Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media