AUBURN | A big day from Johni Broome helped No. 1 Auburn stave off rival Georgia, 82-70, in Neville Arena on Saturday.

The National Player of the Year candidate finished with 31 points, his most during his time at Auburn, and 13 rebounds to produce his 17th double-double of the season.

"That’s why he’s player of the year," Bruce Pearl said. "Unbelievable poise. He plays at a great pace offensively and the fact that he’s patient, calculating and the fact that he attacked the rim like he did in this game so much. I mean, that was the biggest difference at the end of the day. We had 4 and they didn’t. And 4 played pretty good tonight."

The Tigers came out of the locker room hot, taking a 9-0 lead capped by a three-pointer by Miles Kelly with 16:24 to go. A jumper by Justin Abson at 10:53 cut Auburn's lead to three, the closest the Bulldogs would get during the first half.

Chad Baker-Mazara nailed a three with eight seconds left before halftime, only for Silas Demary to answer with a three at the buzzer to make the score 29-24, Auburn, at the half.

The Tigers extended their lead to 10 twice in the second half, the first coming on a Broome three. Asa Newell responded with one of his own. Two free throws by Tahaad Pettiford put the lead at 10 again for Auburn, but two shots from the charity stripe plus another three from Newell sandwiched a Dylan Cardwell dunk to cut the Tigers' lead to five.

Following a timeout, a Kelly three-point attempt was deflected but picked up by Broome, who laid it in while getting fouled.

Blue Cain closed the gap to four with a three at the 3:44 mark, and a jumper from Newell made it a six-point Auburn lead with 1:13 to go, but the Tigers closed it out by making eight straight free throws.

Jones finished with 17 points, while Baker-Mazara and Chaney Johnson both put up 11. Kelly brought down eight rebounds, while the Tigers finished with 17 offensive boards.

“I mean it’s super important," Kelly said. "The offensive rebounds gives us second chance points. We’ve got guys like Johni (Broome), Dylan (Cardwell) and Chaney (Johnson), C-Mo (Chris Moore) and Turtle (Ja’Heim Hudson) crashing the glass every time. They just give us another opportunity on offense when we’re struggling from behind the arc.”

Auburn (25-2, 13-1 SEC) returns to Neville Arena on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT to take on Ole Miss.