By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The No. 4 Auburn Tigers escaped with a win over the No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones on Monday. The Tigers won 83-81 over the Cyclones in the 2024 NovaVax Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawai’i.
Two of the Top 5 teams lost on the Maui Invitational’s first day. In the first game of the tournament, the Memphis Tigers escaped with a win over the then-No. 2 ranked UCONN Huskies.
This was the fifth meeting between these two teams. It was their first meeting since an 80-76 win on January 25th, 2020, in Auburn, Alabama.
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With the win, the Tigers improved to 5-0. The Cyclones suffered their first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1 overall.
The Tigers are now scheduled to play the winner of the Dayton Flyers and the North Carolina Tar Heels in the winner’s bracket on Tuesday. The Cyclones fell to the loser’s bracket.
According to OptaStats, Auburn trailed by 16 points at halftime but went on to win the game. It was the largest halftime deficit overcome by a team in the last 25 years against an Associated Press Top 5 team.
Johni Broome led the Tigers with 21 points. The forward/center also had 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
This was on the heels of his best scoring performance of the season, as he had 30 points a week ago against North Alabama.
Broome was one of four starters in double figures. Chad Baker-Mazara had 18 points. Miles Kelly and Denver Jones contributed 12 points apiece.
The Tigers had 18 bench points. Tahaad Pettiford led the bench with 14 points. Pettiford also had two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Keshon Gilbert led the Cyclones with 23 points. He also had one rebound, two assists, and one steal.
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The 23 points were the most he had in a game this season. This previous high came in the season-opener when he scored 17 points against Mississippi Valley State University on November 4th.
Gilbert was one of three Cyclones starters in double digits. Dishon Jackson had 13 points and Milan Momcilovic added 12.
Iowa State had 18 bench points. Curtis Jones led the team with 14 bench points. He also had five rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
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