Auburn basketball accomplished its goal of flying to Hawaii and winning the Maui Invitational.
The No. 3 Tigers opened the Maui Invitational championship with Memphis by jumping to a 9-0 lead. They rode that momentum to the final buzzer in its 90-76 win over the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday at Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Auburn took control of the game early thanks to a three-pointer from forward Johni Broome at the 19:38 mark in the first half. Auburn then rattled off six-straight points over the first 2:10 of game time to race to a 9-0 lead to open the game. Auburn reached its first double-digit lead of the game at 10:21 with a 25-13 lead and led by as many as 20 points in the first half before taking a 47-31 lead into halftime.
Broome’s hot start stayed consistent as he reached double-double status in the first half for the second-straight game. Through the first 20 minutes of play, Broome scored 15 points and secured 11 rebounds.
As a team, Auburn shot 51% from the field with 22 rebounds and 13 assists. Defensively, Auburn forced 14 turnovers which resulted in 10 points. Memphis also shot 44% in the first half and connected on just 1-of-2 on three-point plays.
The second half provided more of the same as Auburn scored 43 points to secure the win. Auburn increased its field goal percentage to 64%, but the half would see a new star emerge. Senior center Dylan Cardwell scored 10 points in the half by going 4-4 from the field, which included a three-pointer.
Broome led scoring by delivering a 21-point performance with 16 rebounds. Cardwell followed suit by scoring 18 points with Chad Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones scoring 14 and 11 points respectively.
Auburn will celebrate the Maui Invitational championship for a short time before getting back to work. Next on the docket for Auburn is a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face No. 10 Duke next Wednesday, Dec. 4, as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. CT.
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