No. 4 Auburn easily defeats Memphis (90-76) to win the Maui Invitational championship

No. 4 Auburn dominated Memphis to win the championship game of the Maui Invitational on Wednesday, taking a 47-31 halftime lead and ultimately winning 90-76.

Johni Broome posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. He finished the game with 21 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.

Memphis took an impressive route to the Maui finals, upsetting No. 2 UConn and defeating Michigan State, but ultimately ran into an Auburn Buzzsaw. The SEC Tigers took a 9-0 lead before Memphis cut the deficit to four points.

With a 15-11 lead, Auburn then went on a 10-2 run that was capped off by a 3-pointer from Chaney Johnson. Bruce Pearl’s team didn’t let up from then on and eventually took the lead 39:19, punctuated by threes from Broome and JP Pegues, followed by a dunk from Dylan Cardwell.

Auburn devoured Memphis on the offensive boards and grabbed 11 rebounds, which led to 16 second-chance points.

Penny Hardaway’s Tigers simply faced a hole too deep to climb out of, never getting closer than 15 points in the second half. With five minutes played, Memphis seemed to run out of energy against an Auburn team that seemed to be scoring from every position on the court.