Auburn 65, UAB 59

RECAP

AUBURN, Alabama (Ticker) -- Mamadou N'diaye had 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds as No. 4 Auburn won its 10th straight home opener, 65-59 over intrastate rival Alabama-Birmingham.

Chris Porter and Doc Robinson also collected 11 points apiece for the Tigers, whose only season-opening loss at home came at the hands of UAB in 1989-90. But the Blazers could not turn the trick tonight, as they fell behind 27-23 at the half and never seriously challenged over the final 20 minutes.

"I am glad to have the first one out of the way. Now we are ready to move on," Robinson said.

N'Diaye, a senior center, was 3-of-4 from the field, 5-of-8 at the line and blocked a pair of shots for the Tigers, who shot just 33 percent (19-of-57) but held a commanding 56-35 advantage on the boards.

"Starting out tonight, we were too emotional," N'Diaye said. "We were just ready to start the game. It was a hard game for us."

LeAndrew Bass and Eric Holmes tallied 14 points each for UAB (0-1), which has an 11-6 lead in the all-time series but suffered its first loss in four visits to Auburn.

"UAB is always a thorn in our side," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "This is the first time in a while we have beaten them at Auburn. They are a very athletic team and the first thing we have to do is give them credit. The key to the game was the rebounding by Mack McGadney (13 rebounds) and Mamadou N'Diaye."

Porter, who scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 77-64 triumph over the Blazers last season, was a lackluster 4-of-13 from the floot tonight. He did contribute to the Tigers' dominance along the interior with eight rebounds.

"Auburn is a great rebounding team. Probably the best rebounding team we'll play all year," UAB coach Murry Bartow said.

The Blazers were limited to 32 percent (21-of-65) shooting and were just 10-of-21 at the line.

"I'm disappointed we lost," Bartow added. "We came in here to win. We felt like we had a chance to win. We just didn't make enough plays to beat a top-5 team on the road."

UAB senior swingman Torrey Ward had a rough night, managing just five points on 1-of-5 shooting in 21 minutes.

BOXSCORE

UAB (59)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Ward            21   1-5   3-4   1-2  3  2    5
Walker          24   1-6   0-0   3-8  0  2    2
Nikolic         23   1-7   1-3   0-1  1  3    3
Bass            34  6-11   1-4   1-5  4  5   14
Holmes          33  4-12   3-4   1-3  2  3   14
Kimbrough       26  5-12   1-3   1-4  2  3   13
Finley           8   0-5   1-2   1-3  3  3    1
Ransom          24   3-7   0-1   3-6  1  4    7
Johnson          7   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-65 10-21 11-32 16 25   59
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Percentages: FG-.323, FT-.476. 3-Point Goals:
7-25, .280 (Ward 0-2, Nikolic 0-1, Bass 1-2,
Holmes 3-9, Kimbrough 2-5, Finley 0-4, Ransom
1-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 2 (Ward,
Nikolic). Turnovers: 10 (Bass 3, Kimbrough 2,
Finley, Holmes, Nikolic, Ransom, Ward). Steals: 4
(Kimbrough 2, Johnson, Ward).

AUBURN (65)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Porter          33  4-13   3-5   4-8  1  1   11
Fishback        31   3-8   2-3   1-2  0  4   10
Ndiaye          22   3-4   5-8  6-14  0  4   11
Pohlman         23   1-7   2-2   1-3  2  2    4
Robinson        27   2-7   7-8   0-8  5  2   11
Sharp           20   1-3   3-4   0-3  2  2    5
Heard           17   2-6   0-0   0-0  0  1    6
Barker           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Mcgadney        24   3-9   0-0  3-13  0  3    7
Smith            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Calton           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 19-57 22-30 15-51 10 19   65
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Percentages: FG-.333, FT-.733. 3-Point Goals:
5-26, .192 (Porter 0-2, Fishback 2-6, Pohlman
0-4, Robinson 0-4, Sharp 0-2, Heard 2-6, Mcgadney
1-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2 (Ndiaye
2). Turnovers: 18 (Robinson 5, Ndiaye 4, Porter
3, Mcgadney 2, Sharp 2, Calton, Pohlman). Steals:
5 (Porter 3, Robinson, Sharp).
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Uab                23   36  -   59
Auburn             27   38  -   65
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 10,500. Officials:
Gerald Boudreaux, Don Rutledge, Rusty Herring.