Jaylin Williams scored a game-high 23 points and Johni Broome added 21 Wednesday night as No. 13 Auburn opened up a 22-point halftime lead en route to a 101-61 Southeastern Conference rout of No. 11 South Carolina in Auburn, Ala.
Tre Donaldson hit for 11 points and Chad Baker-Mazara came off the bench to tally 10 for the Tigers (20-5, 9-3), which led for more than 35 minutes. Auburn hit 61 percent from the field, including 12 of 20 3-pointers, and possessed a 39-1 advantage in bench scoring.
Meechie Johnson scored 22 points for the Gamecocks (21-4, 9-3), which fell into a second-place tie in the SEC with the Tigers, a half-game behind Alabama. Collin Murray-Boyles added 19 and B.J. Mack hit for 14.
But South Carolina, which entered the night with a seven-game winning streak that propelled it from an unranked team to just outside the top 10, had nothing for Auburn. It made only 34.6 percent from the field and gave up 25 points off its 13 turnovers.
The Gamecocks’ frustration became apparent with 6:38 left in the game when Johnson confronted Baker-Mazara after being fouled on a transition drive to the basket with his team trailing 80-52. Johnson earned a technical foul.
South Carolina led 9-4 before the Tigers took command by ripping off 10 straight points. The margin reached 10 for the first time at the 12:23 mark when Williams canned a short jumper to make it 22-12.
Broome sank a 3-pointer with 8:58 left to up the lead to 29-18 and the margin stayed in double figures for the night’s remainder. Auburn’s superior depth and physical defense simply unnerved the Gamecocks into uncharacteristic mistakes and missed shots.
Baker-Mazara authored an on-brand finish to the first half by firing in a high-arcing 3-pointer with less than two seconds left, increasing the margin to 50-28.
The only suspense in the second half was solved with 51.0 seconds remaining when Jalen Harper converted a short jumper to push the Tigers over the 100-point mark for the third time this season.
–Field Level Media
