The Auburn Tigers (8-5) closed nonconference play in the Auburn Arena Saturday afternoon with an 82-61 win over North Alabama.
Leading scorer KT Harrell tied a season high with 25 points and forward Cinmeon Bowers recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Despite the victory, head coach Bruce Pearl said he was disappointed with the effort of his team at times.
"We're not good enough for me to have to coach effort," Pearl said. "Tonight, I had to. That's something that we have to address."
Harrell, the SEC's leading three-point shooter and second-leading scorer, paced the Tigers in the first half, scoring 13 points and making three 3-pointers. Auburn led 32-30 at the break.
"They were smaller than us," Harrell said. "I'm always looking for the three ball if I have it, but at certain times you have to look at what you got and get in the paint."
UNA leading rebounder Marcus Landry picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, and the Tigers took advantage down low, outscoring the Lions (5-6) 44-32 in the paint.
Antoine Mason came on strong in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18 points to close out the win despite missing all five of his three-point attempts.
"(Mason) didn't shoot it very well in the first half at all, so one of the things he started to do was put the three ball away, and he got the shot fake and into his mid-range game a little bit," Pearl said.
Landry finished with 12 points and three rebounds before fouling out. Point guard Nathan Spehr contributed 17 points and three 3-pointers in the loss.
Harrell eclipsed 20 points for the seventh time this season.
Auburn will head on the road to open SEC play, facing off against the Vanderbilt Commodores (9-3) on Jan. 6 in Nashville, Tenn.
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