Auburn basketball improves to 2-0 on the season after defeating Merrimack 95-57 Thursday night inside Neville arena.
Keyshawn Hall led Auburn with 25 points and 14 rebounds, marking his first career double-double at Auburn.
The Tigers host Wofford in its next game Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. CT
Here three takeaways from Auburn’s victory over Merrimack:
Nightmare shooting first half for Merrimack
Auburn did not make things easy for Merrimack, as the Tigers held them to six made field goals in the first 20 minutes of play.
At the four-minute mark of the first half, Merrimack had only three made field goals and was 2-for-14 on shots coming from beyond the arc.
The Tigers forced six first half turnovers on Merrimack and scored nine points from them. Auburn big man Emeka Opurum made his Auburn debut, shooting perfect from the floor with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks.
15-3 run extends Auburn’s lead in the second half
Tahaad Pettiford came out the second half scoring seven straight points, extending Auburn’s lead to 30 points at one point.
Pettiford finished the game with 13 points and four rebounds. Abdul Bashir added 10 points, and Kaden Magwood scored three points to round out the Tigers backcourt.
Keyshawn Hall also scored double-digit points in the second half, as Auburn shot 50% from the floor as a team. The Tigers also finished with a 73% free throw percentage.
Auburn won the unofficial third quarter by 15 points and held Merrimack to zero rebounds through 12 minutes in the second half.
Auburn’s bench and frontcourt dominate for the Tigers
Opurum led the bench with 11 points, as the Auburn big scored on back-to-back alley-oop dunks from Sebastian Willimas-Adams. The Tigers totaled 21 bench points against Merrimack.
Williams-Adams continues to shine in the start of his freshman campaign, finishing with 15 points and five rebounds. Filip Jovic added nine points and 10 rebounds with KeShawn Murphy out tonight with a foot injury.
Auburn also outrebounded Merrimack 55-24 and scored 40 total points in the paint.
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