Aug. 11, 2017
PONTE BUGGIANESE, Italy ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Bryce Brown was as hot as the triple digit temperatures in Rome as he scored 20 points on six 3s as Anfernee McLemore had 18 points and Chuma Okeke and Jared Harper both double-doubled as Auburn defeated BC Silute of Lithuania 103-87 to remain perfect after two games of its Italian Tour in Comune di Ponte Buggianese on Friday.
Danjel Purifoy added 14 points and seven rebounds while Okeke notched 13 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and two steals. Okeke, who had eight points and nine rebounds vs. Stella Azzurra in the opener, is averaging a double-double with 10.5 points and 10.0 rebounds in the two games.
Harper had 10 points and dished out a game-high 10 assists to go along with a team-best three steals.
"I thought the intensity was good," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. "I thought the travel got to us a little bit more. All of the touring and being up on our feet a little bit, I didn't feel like we had our legs like we did the first night. This was a much better team, Lithuania."
Falling behind 8-3, Auburn tied it for the first time at 13 on a Jared Harper jumper with 4:07 left in the first period. The Tigers took their first lead at 17-16 on an Okeke jumper and led 26-23 at the end of the opening 10-minute quarter.
"It felt really good," said Okeke. "I was really prepared for this game and had a good night's sleep and a good pregame meal. I felt like we came out and played hard and did what we were supposed to do. That team was a real fundamentally-sound team with a lot of shooters."
Auburn scored the first seven points of the second period, capped by back-to-back Brown 3s for a 36-24 lead with 8:23 left in the half. Brown made all four 3-point attempts in the first half and was 6-of-7 before missing his last three 3s.
"I was very hot," said Brown. "I was feeling good knowing my point guard had my back and kept hitting me in the right places. Our chemistry is getting better, it's showing that our chemistry is getting better and better every game. We are going to continue to build off of that."
The Tigers outscored BC Silute 20-17 in the second quarter to hold a 46-39 halftime lead.
Back-to-back Brown 3s in a 20-second span made it 69-55 with 3:21 left in the third. Auburn notched its highest scoring quarter on the tour outscoring BC Silute 31-22 for a 77-61 lead after three periods.
The Tigers led 99-77 after a McLemore 3-point play with 2:19 to go, and the bench emptied seconds later. The Tigers had nine dunks in the game led by McLemore with four.
"It was a nice team effort, and we shared the ball," said McLemore, who was 7-of-9 from the field and had five rebounds. "Overall, we played well together, ran our stuff and did what Coach asked us to do.
"They were a nice team, who played five guards at a time. It was a challenge for Horace, Chuma and me and the other bigs to get out on the wing and defend a bit. It was a good learning experience so I would rather do it now than have to do it in the fall."
Mustapha Heron just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds while Desean Murray had eight points and seven boards.
"This is just about learning," said Pearl. "This is about continuing to learn how to play together. I thought Jared Harper did a really nice job with his unit making the extra pass with his unit and finishing with a double-double with 10 assists.
"Bryce Brown offensively and defensively played better. Surprisingly we scored more with the form of what we do. We didn't force the issue as much. I thought Chuma was really strong tonight, being really solid on both ends. Anfernee played well. When you score over 100 points, that's really good. Defensively, we've been playing better than that, and we need to."
The Tigers shot 50 percent (40-of-80) from the floor, 35 percent (7-of-20) from 3-point range and 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the foul line.
Auburn, which defeated Stella Azzurra 87-29 in Rome on Wednesday, will bus 170 miles to Treviso on Thursday, stopping to tour the Ferrari Museum along the way. The Tigers play at Veneto Select on Sunday at 12:30 pm in Montebelluna and close out the tour vs. the Italy All-Stars in Costa Masnaga on Monday at noon.