Tide’s Sexton leads 2nd-half surge to beat Auburn
ST. LOUIS — Auburn’s offense was flowing at the end of the first half. Desean Murray hit his third 3-pointer and ripped off five straight points to put the Tigers up 41-31 over the Crimson Tide at halftime. Then, the Collin Sexton show started. Sexton scored 31 points and Alabama used a strong second half to defeat No. 16 Auburn 81-63 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Crimson Tide started the second half on a 28-3 run keyed by three consecutive 3s by Sexton. Alabama’s surge put the Tigers away early in the half, and the Crimson Tide (19-14) outscored Auburn 50-22 after the break.
“I didn’t raise my voice,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “I used understandable English, no bad words, and we just talked about how we needed to improve in the second half, and they did it.”
Mustapha Heron led Auburn (25-7) with 18 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Desean Murray scored 15 points, all in the first half. The Tigers moved the ball well on offense and
drilled seven 3s in the first half.
By the time halftime arrived, it was all Sexton. The freshman scored 21 second-half
points. The performance came after he scored 27 points and hit the game-winning shot against Texas A&M on Thursday. Auburn’s shooting struggles continued. Jared Harper finished 2 of 11 with seven points. Bryce Brown shot 1-for-8 from beyond the arc. The Tigers shot just 24 percent in the second half and 1-for-14 from 3-point range.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We did what we wanted to do in the first half. At the start of the second half, they came down and flipped the table on us really quickly.”
Big picture
Alabama: Sexton has been awesome for the Tide all year, but he has especially come alive in the SEC Tournament. His dominance here may already have earned the Tide a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Auburn: The Tigers are a shell of their midseason selves right now. Auburn’s offense looked dynamic in the first half, but the team imploded down the stretch. The Tigers have lost four of their last six games and their NCAA Tournament seed continues to drop.