Moments after Auburn’s victory on Tuesday night, Cinmeon Bowers stumbled into the interview room and slid into his chair for a well-deserved rest.
Bowers was wearing his trademark smile, and the light-hearted forward took a shot at the Tigers’ defeated archrival.
“We beat Bama,” Bowers said with a laugh. “Get them boys outta here.”
Bowers did his part in chasing the Tide out of Auburn Arena, tying his career-high in points and falling one short of his career-high in rebounds to lead Auburn to an 83-77 victory over Alabama.
The senior scored half of his 20 points and grabbed 11 of his 18 rebounds in the second half in only his second start since Dec. 19.
“I don’t really focus on my points,” Bowers said. “I know that’s gone come regardless. I was just locked in on defense. Coach told me to go rebound the basketball.”
Rebound it, he did. Bowers controlled the paint throughout the night, hauling in over 40 percent of Auburn’s total rebounds and limiting Alabama’s two starting forwards, Jimmie Taylor and Michael Kessens, to a combined 11 rebounds.
“I just try to be the first one up to the rim to get the basketball,” Bowers said. “It’s really not a height thing or nothing. It’s just the will. Do you want the ball or not?”
Kareem Canty, hampered with an ankle injury suffered late in the Kentucky game, showed no ill effects on the floor, leading Auburn in scoring for the third consecutive game with 25 points on 7-11 shooting.
“I thought Bowers was that 6-7 gorilla out there that just was a man. Inside and out, [he] played terrifically,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “And Kareem was just Kareem, doing what he does. Those guys kind of put us on their shoulders.”
Auburn fell behind by 10 with 8:24 left in the first half, but it responded with an 11-0 run to recapture the lead. Tyler Harris, who was one of four Auburn players to score in double digits, made a pair of free throws with 4:45 left in the first half to give Auburn a 32-30 lead. The Tigers never trailed again.
Alabama, led by Retin Obasohan’s game-high 27 points, cut the deficit to two in the second half, but foul trouble doomed the Tide late in the game. Three Alabama players — Taylor, Kessens and Arthur Edwards — and Harris fouled out of the game in the final minutes.
The game was tightly officiated from the beginning, as Bowers and Kessens were whistled for technical fouls less than two minutes into the game. A combined 53 fouls were called on the two teams in the game, the most in any Auburn game this season.
“It was just something we had to adjust to,” said Auburn guard TJ Lang, who added 11 points. “After the first couple of times, we realized that’s how the game was going to be called.”
Neither the officials nor the Tide could minimize the impact made by Bowers, who recorded his 22nd career double-double in front of a sellout crowd.
The win was Pearl’s first against Alabama as Auburn’s coach, and it marked only the third time in history Auburn has defeated Kentucky and Alabama in back-to-back games.
As big as the win over the then-No. 14 Wildcats was, Pearl recognized the significance of the Tigers’ latest victory.
“This is a great rivalry. It’s a rivalry game,” Pearl said. “It matters to Auburn family that we are able to be competitive in this rivalry. We did what we had to do.”
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