Opens in a new window advancing to the Sweet 16, No. 1 overall seed Auburn used 39 second half points from Tahaad Pettiford, Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara to lead the Tigers to an 82-70 victory over ninth-seeded Creighton Saturday in the NCAA Tournament round of 32 at Rupp Arena.
“We played Auburn basketball,” coach Bruce Pearl said. “We played like the No. 1 team in the country. We acted like the No. 1 team in the country. We prepared like the No. 1 team in the country. The guys did a phenomenal job on both ends of the floor.”
Pettiford led the Tigers with 23 points, adding six rebounds and three assists. He scored 16 in the second half, making 4 of 6 shots from the field, including his only 3-point attempt, while going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.
“We knew the shots that we were going to get, just getting in the gym and working on those types of shots and being ready for the situation,” the freshman said. “My guys helped me get the ball, get me open and helped me find the shots that I wanted to get. Our goal is to win it all.”
Baker-Mazara scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting, helping Auburn outscore Creighton 47-33 after intermission.
“My coaches and teammates kept helping me, telling me they believed in me,” Baker-Mazara said. “It’s special but the job isn’t done. We’ve got to go back to the lab, fix a couple things and get ready for Michigan.”
Jones added 15 while holding Creighton guard Steven Ashworth to two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half.
“It was a lot of work chasing him around those screens,” said Jones, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half while making both of his 3-point attempts. “Coming into this game you could feel in the air that today was a lot different than the other day. We came out here and proved it, in the second half especially.”
SEC player of the year Johni Broome scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, helping the Tigers outrebound Creighton 37-27 while limiting the Bluejays to six second-chance points.
“It was very important,” Broome said. “I think that was everybody being bought in to wanting to win. This team has worked so hard to continue to make history.”
Chaney Johnson added eight points and eight rebounds, while Dylan Cardwell scored six points on 3-for-3 shooting, added six rebounds and three assists, and was a team-best plus-24.
Trailing by two at the half, Jones and Baker-Mazara each hit 3-pointers in the first two minutes to help the Tigers take the lead.
Baker-Mazara scored seven consecutive points for the Tigers before Pettiford’s 3-pointer gave Auburn a 48-45 lead with 15 minutes to play.
Atter the Bluejays reclaimed the lead with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws, Auburn took control with a 10-0 run, going back in front on Baker-Mazara’s 3-point play.
Jones hit another 3-pointer, then passed to Cardwell for a dunk to cap the run and put Auburn ahead 58-50, the Tigers’ largest lead to that point.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored on back-to-back possessions to pull Creigton within four, then the Tigers embarked on a second 10-0 run, with Pettiford providing six points on a pair of jumpers and two free throws to give Auburn a 68-54 lead with 6:20 remaining.
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