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Brown, Heron lead No. 11 Auburn past Vanderbilt, 93-81

Under Armour Reunion

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 12: Head coach Bruce Pearl of the Auburn Tigers reacts against the Boston College Eagles in the second half of the Under Armour Reunion at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

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AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Bryce Brown scored 25 points and Mustapha Heron had 23 to lead hot-shooting No. 11 Auburn to a 93-81 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday night.

The two high-scoring guards alternated taking over for the Tigers (21-2, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) in the second half.

It was almost as if they were trying to one-up each other against the last-place Commodores (8-15, 2-8). Heron scored 13 straight Auburn points, including three 3-pointers. Then Brown topped that with a 15-point run that also included a trio of 3s, one of which he turned into a four-point play.

Auburn made a season-high 17 3-pointers on 26 attempts to snap a 13-game losing streak against Vanderbilt.

Jared Harper scored 14 points and had 14 assists for Auburn, making three 3-pointers in the first nine minutes. Chuma Okeke hit a pair of 3s and had 12 points.

Jeff Roberson had the hot hand for the Commodores, pouring in 30 points and making 5 of 9 from beyond the arc. Riley LaChance scored 13.

Auburn raced to a 22-point lead in the first half after making 7 of 11 3-pointers. The Commodores got back into it with their own outside shooting. Roberson and LaChance punctuated a quick 11-0 run with back-to-back 3s, and Vandy cut it all the way to down to seven.

Then Okeke scooped up a loose ball and hit a 3 with 2 seconds left to give Auburn a 45-35 halftime lead.

BIG PICTURE

Vanderbilt: The Commodores kept fighting back but still fell to 0-9 against Top 25 teams this season.

Auburn: The SEC-leading Tigers are now two games ahead of No. 18 Tennessee and three ahead of Florida and Kentucky, which both lost. The Tigers haven’t held sole possession of first this late since winning the regular-season conference title in 1998-99 and have won five straight.