Alabama has snapped Auburn’s 11-game winning streak. The Crimson Tide won Wednesday’s Iron Bowl of Basketball, knocking off No. 8 Auburn 79-75 in Tuscaloosa.

Nate Oats’ squad jumped out to an early lead and held on in the second half. The 3-ball made a big difference, particularly in the first 20 minutes. Alabama made 8-of-17 3-point attempts in the first half, while Auburn was just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc. UA led AU 44-30 at the break.

Bruce Pearl’s squad, though, wasn’t going away. Auburn started the second half on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 44-39, and it was a single-digit difference the rest of the way. While the Tigers would cut it to a one-possession game, the Tide never surrendered the lead in the second half.

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Auburn’s Johni Broome was the game’s leading scorer with 25 points. He kept the Tigers alive through first-half cold spells, scoring 16 points. He added 9 points in the second half and finished with 14 boards for a double-double. Chad Baker-Mazara was the only other Auburn scorer in double figures (11 points).

Alabama had more of a balanced offensive effort. Mark Sears led the Tide in scoring, logging 22 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the floor, with one 3-pointer and 3 free throws. Ryaln Griffen (17 points), Grant Nelson (14 points) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (14 points) also reached double figures for UA. Nelson had a double-double with 11 rebounds.

AU was the slightly better shooting team (42% to 38%), but the difference in 11 3-pointers to 5 triples loomed large. Alabama had more second-chance points (21-12), while AU edged in bench points (29-27) and points in the paint (38-30). Bama won the rebounding battle 46-41.

It is Auburn’s first conference loss of the season. Both Alabama and Auburn are now 5-1 in conference play entering Saturday.