Tennessee tops Auburn, advances to SEC Tournament quarterfinals
By David Wasson
Published:
The fifth-seeded Tennessee Volunteers engineered a 20-0 run midway in the second half to surge past the 12th-seeded Auburn Tigers 72-62 on Thursday at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford hit a jumper at the 10:26 mark of the second half to put Auburn on top 51-41. But the 25th-ranked Volunteers (22-10) went on a 20-0 scoring barrage – with Nate Ament scoring 11 of Tennessee’s points – to go up 61-51.
The Tigers (17-16), who now find themselves precariously on the NCAA Tournament bubble, narrowed the margin to 5 points with 57 seconds to play but could get no closer.
Ament led Tennessee with 27 points and eight rebounds, and teammate Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 15 points. Pettiford led all scorers with 28 points, while Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall added 10 points.
Auburn jumped out to a 32-25 halftime lead but managed just 30 points on 32.3 percent shooting in the second half. Tennessee piled up 47 second-half points on 50 percent shooting.
Tennessee advances to play fourth-seeded Vanderbilt (24-7) in Friday’s quarterfinals (3:30 pm ET, ESPN). The Volunteers and Commodores split their season series, with Tennessee winning the Feb. 21 game 69-65 in Nashville and Vanderbilt earning an 86-82 victory in Knoxville on March 7.
Can Tennessee cut down the nets? Kalshi is taking actions on predictions to win the SEC Tournament!
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
