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Auburn completes sweep of Alabama

Feb 25, 2007 - 4:24 AM TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Ticker) -- Auburn proved it was no fluke the first time.

Quan Prowell and Korvotney Barber scored 17 points apiece as the Tigers rolled to an 86-77 Southeastern Conference victory over Alabama.

Auburn (16-13, 5-8 SEC West) swept the season series from the Crimson Tide, having hammered its intrastate rival, 81-57, earlier in the season.

Alabama (19-9, 6-8 West) now is 4-5 since that loss and is squarely on the NCAA bubble.

The Tigers led, 34-30, at the half and scored the first six points of the second half for push the lead into double digits.

Prowell then sandwiched 3-pointers around a layup by Barber as Auburn extended the advantage to 68-50 with 7:45 remaining. Prowell finished 7-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the arc.

"The problem today was we were not good defensively," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "That has been the case with our team too many times this year, especially today around the interior. I thought Richard (Hendrix), late in the game, did a lot of things well.

"I just think that defensively, we struggled through the whole night and that was the bottom line."

The Crimson Tide used an 11-0 run to close to 68-61 with 11 1/2 minutes to play and got within 74-68 on Alonzo Gee's 3-pointer with 1:27 left, but Auburn hit six straight foul shots to put it away.

With the scored tied at 21-21, the Tigers ran off seven straight points to take the lead for good.

Auburn extended its advantage to 32-23 before Jermareo Davidson scored seven points to get Alabama within four at the intermission.

Barber finished 6-of-8 from the floor and pulled down 10 boards for Auburn, which shot 54 percent (29-of-54) in breaking a seven-game losing streak at Alabama.

Frank Tolbert added 12 points and Dollard 10 for the Tigers.

Hendrix had 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead five players in double figures for the Crimson Tide, which was just 5-of-18 from the arc.