Auburn Tigers vs Tennessee Volunteers Match Player Stats On Mar 17, 2019

Bryce Brown scored 19 points and Chuma Okeke added 18 points and 13 rebounds to lift No. 22 Auburn to an 84-64 victory over No. 8 Tennessee in the SEC tournament championship game Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.

Okeke made four 3-pointers during a decisive 25-11 run to open the second half, extending the Tigers' lead to 57-34.

Tennessee (29-5) could not get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

It was the first SEC tourney title for Auburn (26-9) since 1985, as the Tigers became the first team to win the tournament with four victories in four days. Auburn previously defeated Missouri, South Carolina and Florida.

Auburn missed 11 of its first 13 3-pointers and trailed 15-11 eight minutes into the game. The Tigers also got into early foul trouble three minutes into the game when Jared Harper, their second-leading scorer, went to bench with two fouls.

But despite those challenges, Auburn took a 19-18 lead on the strength of its bench, which scored nine of the Tigers' first 19 points, and its sticky defense.

With reserve J'Von McCormick and Brown each burying 3-pointers to snap the Tigers' perimeter-shooting woes, Auburn put together a 20-3 run and led 31-18.

Auburn forced Tennessee into 12 first-half turnovers and scored 13 points off those mistakes to take a 32-23 halftime lead.

Each team shot abysmally in the first half: Auburn shot just 35 percent from the floor, including 5 of 20 from long range, and Tennessee went 8 of 25 from the field (32 percent).

Despite their early shooting woes, Auburn continued to hoist 3-pointers, and the Tigers finished 15 of 40 from long range, connecting on 10 of 20 in the second half.

The Tigers also forced the normally sure-handed Volunteers into 17 turnovers.

Lamonte Turner paced Tennessee with a game-high 24 points. SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams added 13 points and eight rebounds but had four turnovers.

The Auburn bench outscored Tennessee's reserves 30-10.

--Field Level Media