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Auburn shakes off slow start to beat Creighton, advance - ESPN

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Auburn freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford drove down the middle of the defense, knocked down a floater and waved goodbye to nobody in particular at Rupp Arena on Saturday night.

In the moment, it was a salutation that suggested the top-seeded Tigers were about to knock 9-seed Creighton out of the NCAA tournament, an outcome finalized a few minutes later in an 82-70 victory in a second-round matchup.

But Pettiford's wave could be redirected toward all the knocks Auburn have faced in recent weeks and years. The Tigers entered this year's tourney as the No. 1 overall seed but had lost three of four games entering the postseason. They had a relatively uninspiring performance against 16-seed Alabama State on Thursday and trailed Creighton at halftime on Saturday.

But a second half that featured a strong defensive showing and Pettiford's showing out off the bench meant Auburn had a rebuttal for the questions surrounding the team.

«We never really listened to what folks had to say about us,» said senior forward Johni Broome. «We knew that what we had in this group, we'll be able to make a run and if we played how we played night, we're going to make it out of the first [weekend].»

Broome, the SEC Player of the Year, was limited to eight points and 12 rebounds on 4-of-13 shooting. But there were plenty of others to pick up the slack for the Tigers (30-5). Pettiford scored a game-high 23 points, with 16 of those coming in the second half. Senior forward Chad Baker-Mazara had 17 points despite missing a large chunk of the half after talking a hard fall on a drive to the basket. Senior guard Denver Jones added 15 points.

Creighton (29-6) led by two at halftime and was in the game until Auburn went on a massive run.

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