Broome, No. 13 Auburn roll past Winthrop, 89-65

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Johni Broome had 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead No. 13 Auburn to an 89-65 victory over Winthrop on Tuesday night.

Broome took over the game four days after failing to make a basket against South Florida, helping the Tigers (3-0) put together a dominant stretch after leading the Eagles (2-2) by just 11 early in the second half.

Wendell Green Jr. scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half for Auburn, making 4 of 6 3-pointers. Freshman Yohan Traore scored 11 points.

Broome, a Morehead State transfer, rebounded from an 0-for-6 shooting performance and had all five blocks in the first half. He pulled down eight offensive boards in just 20 minutes.

Kelton Talford had 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for the Eagles. Toneari Lane made three 3-pointers and scored 18. Kasen Harrison finished with 11 points.

Winthrop's No. 2 scorer, Cory Hightower, failed to score and played just 18 minutes. He went down and appeared to grab his left ankle at one point in the first half but did return.

Winthrop scored the first points of the second half to pull within 11. But Auburn scored 10 straight points in a 1:48 span to brush away the challenge, with 3-pointers from Allen Flanigan and Zep Jasper.

BIG PICTURE

Winthrop: Picked to finish second in the Big South Conference but was outmanned by Auburn's big men. The Eagles are 3-31 against Southeastern Conference teams with 10 straight losses.

Auburn: Dominated the boards 53-33 with 25 offensive rebounds. Also made 19 of 36 shots (52.8%) in the second half. The 176 points is the fewest Auburn has allowed through the first three games since 2001.

WESTRY DEBUTS

Freshman point guard Chance Westry made his Auburn debut after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in October. Westry had five points and two assists in 17 minutes.

UP NEXT

Winthrop: Ats Mercer on Saturday.

Auburn: Hosts defending SWAC champion Texas Southern on Friday night.

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