Players Era Championship: Auburn's Astonishing 2nd Half Overwhelms St. John's

 

St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino walks the sideline in front of the bench. @StJohnsBBall.

The No. 21 Auburn Tigers put up 55 points in the second half to roll to an 85-74 win over No. 14 St. John's in the third and final game of the Players Era Championship at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

St. John's dropped two out of three games in this tournament, with both losses coming against ranked teams, and they are now 4-3 on the young season. 

The Red Storm led this one 39-30 at the half, and held a six-point edge, at 61-55 when Ian Jackson slammed one home with 9:53 remaining.

Auburn responded with six straight points over the next 1:36 to tie it at 61. After a Sadiku Ibine Ayo basket briefly put St. John's back up two, Auburn reeled off seven straight points to take a 68-63 lead on a Tahaad Pettiford three-pointer at the 6:21 mark.

St. John's pulled back within four points a couple times, but Auburn held firm and they opened up a 10-point lead, 80-70, on a Keyshawn Hall free throw at 1:17. That capped an elongated 25-9 run for the Tigers.

Auburn shot an astonishing 64.0 percent in the second half, as they shot 16-25 overall, including 5-8 from behind the arc. Their defense held St. John's to 34.5 percent, or 10-29, with 4-15 on three-pointers, in the final 20 minutes.

Tashaad Pettiford led Auburn with 27 points on 10-19 form the field, including 3-8 on three-pointers, with four rebounds, three steals, and two assists. 

Keyshawn Hall had 20 points (5-11 FG, 1-3 threes, 9-12 free throws), with eight rebounds and four assists. Kevin Overton had 12 points (3-7 FG, 1-2 threes, 5-5 FT), five assists, three rebounds, and two steals.

St. John's was led, once again, by Zuby Ejiofor, who had 24 points on 6-11 from the field, including 1-2 from behind the arc, and 11-13 on free throws, with six rebounds and two assists. Joson Sanon had 16 points (5-10 FG, 4-7 threes), two rebounds, and two assists.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addre ssed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "The big play was the underneath out-of-bounds play. We just let them lob in for the layup and we missed four free throws in a row and the momentum swung. But, overall, our upperclassmen didn't have a good night shooting the basketball."

On the road trip: "We're going home 1-2, and we would've liked to go 2-1, so it was a disappointing trip. We've got to regroup against a very good Ole Miss team now that we're 0-2 against the SEC." (SJU plays Ole Miss on Saturday, December 6 at 8 p.m. at Madison Square Garden)

On his mindset: "I take it one day at a time. I've been through this before. Defensively, we have a lot of work to do. We can get there, but it's going to take a different mindset. Scoring is not the ultimate; it's defense, and you have to buy in."