Guard J'Von McCormick ignited his team with a 3-point barrage on his way to 18 points as No. 12 Auburn struggled early but closed out Lehigh with a strong second half for a 74-51 victory Saturday night in Auburn, Ala.
Center Austin Wiley posted his sixth career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, but leading scorer guard Samir Doughty was held to a season-low six points.
Guard Jordan Cohen led the Mountain Hawks (3-8) with 18 points.
McCormick hit three consecutive 3-pointers in a 17-6 spurt that gave the Tigers (11-0) a 65-47 cushion with under four minutes left after the Mountain Hawks had trimmed a 13-point deficit to 48-41 at the 7:56 mark.
Both teams posted season lows in a first half that ended with Auburn leading 27-20.
The Tigers widened their lead to 46-33 with just under 12 minutes left in the game. But they then went more than four minutes without a field goal.
The Tigers shot only 41.8 percent from the field and were flirting with a season-low in 3-pointers until McCormick's outburst. But they scored 30 points off Lehigh's 19 turnovers and finished 6 of 28 from long range.
The Tigers struggled early and trailed 20-13, including missing their first 10 attempts from 3-point range, until Doughty's corner trey ignited a 14-0 run to end the first half.
McCormick also had a 3-pointer in the run, but the Tigers still finished the period only 2 of 13 from behind the arc.
The Mountain Hawks, meanwhile, went scoreless over the last 7:17 of the first half, missing their last seven field goal attempts. They ended their scoring drought on Cohen's backdoor layup on the first possession of the second half.
--Field Level Media
Lehigh | Auburn | |
Jordan Cohen 18 | Scoring | J'Von McCormick 18 |
Jordan Cohen 6 | Assists | Samir Doughty 4 |
Evan Taylor 6 | Rebounds | Austin Wiley 15 |
Evan Taylor 6 | Free Throws Made | Austin Wiley 8 |
Jordan Cohen 2 | Steals | Isaac Okoro 2 |
James Karnik 3 | Blocks | Anfernee McLemore 6 |