Shorthanded Tigers throttle Tide

AUBURN | Seven was more than enough for No. 12 Auburn.

The Tigers, down to just seven scholarship players, whipped Alabama 90-71 Wednesday night behind 21 points by Jared Harper and a career-high 16 by Chuma Okeke off the bench.

"We did what we had to do," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "We had to get off to a good start. We had to hit them in the mouth early. Our zone defense was really effective tonight. I just felt like with seven, we couldn't extend defensively in our man-to-man."

Auburn improves to 24-4 overall and 12-3 in the SEC, needing just one more win or a loss by Tennessee in the last three games to clinch its third-ever SEC regular season championship.

"It's special. It's special beyond compare," Pearl said. "This team is trying to make history, we've got a long way to go, but what we're seeing is rare. This combination of grit, determination, resiliency, family -- it's all right here."

Leading by just three points midway through the second half, Auburn took command with a 20-8 run as Davion Mitchell put the Tide away with back-to-back 3-pointers.

Okeke, who also had 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, scored 13 of his points in the second half as he and Mitchell combined to score 21 off Auburn’s bench.

"I've been telling you that the only thing holding Chuma Okeke back is me. He can play," Pearl said. "He really stepped up and so did Davion in the second half."

Bryce Brown added 18 points, 12 in the second half, and Desean Murray had nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Harper had six assists and four steals, making 10-of-11 free throws.

"It was just an opportunity for the next person to step up," Harper said. "We always preach just to always be ready."

With Mustapha Heron out with a stomach virus, Malik Dunbar started for just the third time this season and posted career highs with 14 points and seven rebounds.

The win comes four days after a crushing 84-75 loss at South Carolina where starting center Anfernee McLemore went down with a season-ending injury.

"I just knew I had to step up with two of my teammates down," Okeke said. "One of our leading scorers is down, Mustapha, and one of our leading rebounders is down, Anfernee, so I had to come into this game with an aggressive mindset and crash the boards a lot and do what I had to do to help my team."

Auburn broke out to an early 12-point lead and led for most of the first half before an 8-0 run by Alabama tied it up 30-30 with 3:16 left. The Tigers answered with their own 8-0 run and went into halftime with a 40-35 lead.

The Tigers out-rebounded a much bigger Tide team 41-35 and out-scored them in the paint 30-26. Auburn scored 28 points off 17 Alabama turnovers.

Alabama, which fell to 17-11 and 8-7 in the SEC, was led by Collin Sexton's 25 points

Auburn returns to action Saturday at Florida. Tip-off at the O’Connell Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network.