No. No. 4 Auburn dominated Memphis to win the championship game of the Maui Invitational on Wednesday, taking a 47-31 halftime lead and cruising to a 90-76 victory.
Johni Broome posted a double-double in the first half with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He finished with 21 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. Dylan Cardwell added 18 points and shot 8-for-8 from the floor, along with six assists. Chad Baker-Mazara scored 14 as Auburn improved to 7-0 to open the season.
Memphis took an impressive path to the Maui finai, upsetting No. 2 UConn and beating Michigan State, but ultimately ran into an Auburn buzzsaw. The SEC Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Memphis closed the gap to four points.
Leading 15-11, Auburn then went on a 10-2 run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Chaney Johnson. Bruce Pearl’s team didn’t give up from there and eventually took a 39-19 lead, punctuated by 3s from Broome and JP Pegues, followed by a dunk from Cardwell.
Auburn devoured Memphis on the offensive boards, grabbing 11 rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points. Here too, Broome led the way with four offensive rebounds. Additionally, Auburn forced 11 turnovers, leading to 14 points.
Penny Hardaway’s Tigers were simply faced with too deep a hole to climb out of and never got closer than 15 points in the second half. By the time five minutes had been played, Memphis seemed to have run out of gas against an Auburn team that was scoring from seemingly every position on the field.
PJ Haggerty led Memphis with 27 points and shot 11 of 20 from the floor, but he was the team’s only consistent scoring threat for the game. Colby Rogers (who went 3-for-3 on 3s) and Dain Dainja each scored 15.
En route to the Maui Invitational championship, the first in school history, Auburn defeated No. 5 Iowa State, 83-81, in a last-second thriller and then defeated No. 12 North Carolina, 85-72, to advance go to the final. The Tigers are also coming off a 74-69 win over No. 6 Houston during their impressive start.
Next up for Auburn is a test against No. 11 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium next Wednesday (9:15 p.m. ET, ESPN) as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge. Memphis hosts 7-0 Louisiana Tech, also on Wednesday.
