NASHVILLE | A basket from Johni Broome with 11.1 seconds left helped Auburn stave off a late-minute comeback attempt by Ole Miss as the Tigers defeated the Rebels, 62-57, in the quarterfinals of the 2025 SEC Championship.
The SEC Player of the Year, Broome put up 23 points and 15 rebounds to record his 18th double-double of the season and first in his last five games. He scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half, none bigger than the last one.
“Well, I know I was going to the basket regardless,” Broome said. “I faded away for the last bucket with Alabama. I told my teammates that won’t happen again, I’m going to take a better shot. I just knew. They gave it to me again, trusted me again. I just had to finish for them this time.”
Auburn got off to a slow start on offense, with eight of its first nine shot attempts being from beyond the arc, only making two.
The Tigers went on a 10-2 run to take a nine-point lead on a three from Tahaad Pettiford with 3:11 to go before halftime. Auburn went into the locker room leading 29-22.
The two teams traded baskets at the start of the second half. A Broome free throw at the 10:46 mark gave the Tigers a seven-point lead before the Rebels countered with a 7-0 run to tie the game with 6:56 to go.
After Broome and Chris Moore missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throws, Chaney Johnson nailed a three from the corner to give Auburn a three-point advantage.
“Man, that was a big shot,” Johnson said. “I feel like we had a little slow stretch, especially with a lot of foul calls against us.”
A free throw by Ole Miss cut it to two, but Broome made a bucket while getting fouled, making the and-1 to spread the lead to five. Another Broome basket and and-1 from Denver Jones gave Auburn its biggest lead of the day at 10 with three minutes left.
The Tigers held a nine-point edge with 1:34 to go, but the Rebels wouldn’t quit, going on a 6-0 run to cut it to three before Broome’s basket.
“He’s old school,” Bruce Pearl said of his star player. “He’s got old-school footwork. He’s got great feet.”
Jones added 13 points for the Tigers while Johnson finished with seven rebounds.
Auburn returns to Bridgestone Arena on Saturday at noon CT to face the winner of Tennessee/Texas.
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