Johnson comes off bench to lead Tigers to win

AUBURN | It was quite a night for Ronnie Johnson.

Auburn’s graduate transfer point guard came off the bench to score 13 points and dish out four assists in 17 minutes to lead the Tigers to an 85-64 win over Eastern Kentucky Thursday night at the Auburn Arena.

He also reached a big career milestone.

“He scored his 1,000th point and helped us win a game tonight,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “He was just rock solid and his ability to get by people was significant. I also thought he helped us on the defensive end.”

Auburn trailed for much of the first half before closing on a 9-2 run to lead 37-34 at the break. A 14-2 run early in the second half put the Tigers up by 14 with 8:35 left.

Auburn out-rebounded EKU 51-30 and had 26 second-chance points. EKU shot just 32.8 percent from the field and had 14 turnovers.

The Tigers move to 3-0 for the first time since the 2011-12 team started 4-0.

“Our defense continues to carry us,” Pearl said. “When you hold a good offensive team like Eastern Kentucky to the percentages that we held them to, I’m really pleased with our effort and energy.”

Freshman Mustapha Heron finished with his first-career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs. He was a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor.

“It feels good. It’s a building block,” Heron said. “Going into Cancun next week I think this is a good win. I didn’t think we played that well as a unit. We kind of picked it up as the game went on. Hopefully, we’re ready to go out and play when we go to Cancun.”

Danjel Purifoy had 16 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Horace Spencer added four points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot. Anfernee McLemore had six points, four rebounds and one block in nine minutes off the bench.

Auburn is now 2-0 in the Cancun Challenge, which will resume in Cancun, Mex., against Texas Tech Tuesday and either Purdue or Utah State Wednesday.