By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)ASSOCIATED PRESS Auburn
No. 4 Auburn Tigers secure their first Maui Invitational championship with a 90-76 win over Memphis Tigers on Wednesday night.
Auburn becomes the third SEC team to win the Maui Invitational in its 40-year history. The other teams that accomplished this goal were the 1986 Vanderbilt Commodores and the 1993 Kentucky Wildcats.
Johni Broome had a sensational performance for the Tigers. He led the team with 21 points and 16 boards and was named Maui Invitational MVP.
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It’s the fifth straight game where Broome finished with a double-double. No Auburn player has done this since Jeff Moore in 1988.
Throughout the tournament, Broome averaged 21.6 points per game with 15 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and three blocks.
Three other Auburn players finished with double figures: Dylan Cardwell, Chad Baker-Mazara, and Denver Jones.
The Tigers dominated the Memphis Tigers. Auburn had 23 assists and committed only nine turnovers.
“Dylan has had the challenge of playing behind the last couple of years behind Walker Castle and Johni Broome,” Pearl said. “You wouldn’t believe how eloquently he did that, and when Johni decided to come back, we knew we could have a chance to have a really good team. One of the things Dylan and I talked about him coming back was not playing Johni but playing with him, and we worked on it.”
Although Memphis shot better from downtown than Auburn, Auburn’s rebounding, assists, and free throws gave it an edge in this game.
Despite the loss, Memphis should be proud of senior guard Tyrese Hunter. Hunter performed well throughout the tournament and was an All-AAC preseason first-team selection.
The game’s outcome would’ve been different had Hunter played much better. He only had 11 points and didn’t score until the second half.
After winning the Maui Invitational MVP, many consider Broome the frontrunner for Player of the Year in college basketball.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com
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