Jaylin Williams scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, as No. 13 Auburn grabbed a big first-half lead en route to an 80-65 win at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday evening.
Williams had a nearly perfect night, hitting all seven shots from the floor and all five from the foul line. He added eight rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block and had a game-high plus-20 rating in 28 minutes, his only mistake being a lone turnover.
Johni Broome added 15 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double this season.
Auburn’s bench, led by Dylan Cardwell’s 12 points, outscored Vanderbilt’s, 29-18.
The Tigers (15-2, 4-0 Southeastern Conference), who won their 10th straight, led by 19 in the first half and as many as 22 in the second.
Tyrin Lawrence (15 points), Jason Rivera-Torres (14), Ezra Manjon (12) and Malik Presley (11) scored in double figures for Vanderbilt (5-12, 0-4).
Vanderbilt has lost four in a row and eight of nine.
Auburn took its first 20-point lead on Broome’s lay-up with 14:00 to play.
Vanderbilt got within 13 but Williams drove the left side, flipped a behind-the-back bounce-pass to Denver Jones, who nailed a wide-open corner 3, making it 73-57 with 3:51 left.
Auburn led 41-24 at the break.
The Tigers scored the game’s first seven points but Vanderbilt stormed back to take a 16-14 lead with 12:32 left in the first half on a Manjon layup.
But Auburn exploded for 13 unanswered points, the last being Aden Holloway’s 3 with 8:53 left in the first half.
That became a 20-2 run until Manjon hit a reverse lay-up at 5:34 that cut the lead to 14.
Williams scored Auburn’s last points of the half when he soared through the lane, caught Tre Donaldson’s missed 3-pointer and slammed it home in one motion with 19 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
