Auburn gets its second win of the Stephen Pearl era, this time in more dominate fashion. The Tigers won 95-57 with outstanding defense and versatile scoring.
The Tigers were yet again led on the offensive front by transfer forward Keyshawn Hall who totaled 25 points while adding 14 rebounds. Hall and the other Tigers had Merrimack outsized from the beginning and used their size to out rebound them 55 to 24 which was the first time Auburn has ever out rebounded a team by 30 rebounds in their program’s history. Those boards led to an impressive 42 points in the paint to Merrimack’s measly 14.
In the absence of KeShawn Murphy, center Emeka Opurum got his first action in a Tigers uniform helping the Tigers by putting together a solid first half with seven points and four rebounds aiding the Tigers to a 17-point halftime lead that they would carry to the end of the night.
“I mean, offensively, that zone, you know, was obviously, really good for him,” head coach Stephen Pearl about Opurum stepping up, “because he is so big, so tall, they didn’t have any size though.”
Standout freshman Sebastian Williams-Adams did not slow down following his first appearance on the plains last week following his 15-point, six rebound game in the opener. He amassed 14 points while adding five rebounds and five assists which ended up being a new career high. Williams-Adams only detriment was his foul trouble as he got a few fouls early and ended with four fouls.
“You know obviously he’s a winner,” said coach Pearl on the freshman, “And you know, He’s just, I think, represents Auburn so well and you know he’s got a lot of Dylan Cardwell in him in that regard. And yeah, he’s just, you feel like he’s a junior or senior out there.”
The Tigers struggled with their foul trouble again with Kevin Overton fouling out late in the game and Williams-Adams and Elyjah Freeman both having four foul nights. The team ended the night with 20 total fouls.
Stephen Pearl coached Auburn also continued their trend of free throw shooting to in the opener, finding their way to the line a total of 37 times with 27 points coming from the free throws. To no one’s surprise Auburn’s leading scorer, Hall, was also the leading scorer from the line with 12 points from free throws.
“So, I’m trying to get fouled,” Hall said referenced his ability to get to the line, “and I’m trying to throw my body around, trying to go get into somebody. So that’s how I make my living.”
Auburn spread the ball around nicely throughout the night having nine guys get in on the scoring with an astounding five of them having double digit point totals. They also had nine players with a rebound and seven of them having four or more.
The Tigers look to continue their winning ways next Monday where they will be in Neville arena again taking on the Wofford Terriers with a 6 pm C.S.T. tipoff for their third game under Stephen Pearl.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
