AUBURN | No. 1 Auburn used clutch defense and foul shooting down the stretch to escape an upset bid by Arkansas in Neville Arena as the Tigers defeated the Razorbacks, 67-60, on Wednesday night.
A turnover by Chad Baker-Mazara and a bucket by Johnell Davis gave Arkansas a one-point lead with 2:23 to go. Baker-Mazara responded with a driving layup, and a putback by Broome put the Tigers up by three with 1:53 left.
The play by Broome, according to Bruce Pearl, was what led to the Tigers' victory.
"We ran something with Chaney involved, and Chaney missed it and Johni cleaned it up," the Auburn coach said. "He did that against Iowa State. He's a winner, real good player."
Two free throws by Baker-Mazara extended the Tigers' lead to five before Chaney Johnson committed a foul on Adou Theiro with 1:01 on the clock. Theiro made both, but Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones converted on four straight shots from the charity stripe to put the game away.
It looked like the Tigers would take an eight-point lead into halftime after a three-pointer by Chad Baker-Mazara, but the guard was given a technical for apparently jawing off at the Arkansas bench. Two free throws by Johnell Davis made the score 33-27 at the half.
After Arkansas went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 37, the Tigers answered with a basket by Chaney Johnson and back-to-back buckets by Broome. Johnson scored 10 straight points for Auburn at one point during the second half, finishing with 12 of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes.
Broome put up his 16th double-double of the season (76th of his career) after leading the Tigers with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Baker-Mazara added 15 points, while Jones finished with nine.
Overall, Auburn finished plus-13 on the boards on a night where the Tigers shot 40.3 percent from the floor.
"That was very important, because shots aren't always going to fall," Johnson said. "I mean, being on the glass is effort. Being able to stay in front of your defender is effort. When shots are not falling, we're still able to give good effort. That keeps us in the game. Then, when we start making shots, we continue to give that effort, and it allows us to win games.
The top-ranked Tigers (24-2, 12-1 SEC) return to Neville Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT as they host Georgia.
