Five players were in double figures, and the Tigers led for just over 34 minutes in the contest. That is all Bruce Pearl and the Auburn basketball team needed to defeat Alabama 82-77, completing the season sweep of the Tide.
"It means a lot to me because it means a lot to the Auburn family," Pearl said. "It's nice for our folks, our fans, our donors, our alumni, our parents, our kids to be able to get this one."
"It took a lot. Those guys are good and they are huge. We manned up just enough. We had to make shots."
The Tigers could not be tamed from behind the arc. Auburn had six players drain at least one three-pointer, and the Tigers hit 15 total on the night.
"We got good looks and we had to knock down the perimeter shots because Alabama was just so big inside," Pearl said.
The hot shooting started with point guard Ronnie Johnson who was brilliant throughout. The back up point guard came off the bench and provided 15 points, three assists and two rebounds for the Tigers.
Jared Harper also continued to provide offensive sparks for his offense. The freshman point guard was 4 of six from behind the arc on his way to 14 total points. Freshman teammate Mustapha Heron also provided for the Tigers, scoring 13 points behind a perfect 6 of 6 shooting from the free throw line.
Danjel Purifoy played his best game since his injury in early January against Ole Miss. The forward had a quiet month of January, and has been playing on an ankle that is not at 100 percent strength. Tonight he played like his old self. The freshman drained four three-pointers on his way to 14 points and four rebounds.
"Making the open shots was the key for me tonight and doing what I had to do on defense in order for us to get this win tonight," Purifoy said.
Sophomore guard Bryce Brown also found his three point stroke, and had 12 points behind 4 of 5 shooting from behind the arc.
"I can tell you we did hold the broom up," Brown said. "It was pretty good to sweep our rival. It was a great atmosphere in the locker room."
Auburn led by as much as 15 points late in the second half, but the Tide would not go away. A 10-0 run from Alabama brought the Tide to within 4 points, and it looked as if they might be able to pull off some late magic.
The run was not enough.
Clutch free throw shooting from Heron sealed the Tigers fifth road victory of the year, and Auburn improved to 15-8 overall and 3-6 in conference.
Auburn returns home and will face Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Auburn Arena. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CST, and the contest can be seen on ESPNU.
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