Broome, Auburn hold off Iowa 83-75 in first round of NCAA Tournament

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — When it comes to Auburn and the NCAATournament, the Tigers know how to make an opening statement.

Johni Broomehad 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and No. 9 seedAuburn beat Iowa 83-75 on Thursday for its 10th consecutiveopening-round win dating to the mid-1980s.

The Tigers(21-12) made 11 of 12 free throws over the final four minutes tolock up a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Houston, whichsurvived a scare from 16th-seeded Northern Kentucky..

It was adecidedly Auburn-oriented crowd two hours from campus.

“They wereloud and rowdy the whole game,” Auburn guard Allen Flanigan said.“It felt like a home game for us.”

Broome evenmade his ninth 3-pointer of the season to push the margin intodouble digits for the first time with 16 minutes left.

The Tigersappeared poised to pull away in front of a partisan orange-and-bluecrowd, going up by 17 with a 13-2 run midway through the secondhalf sparked by Tre Donaldson’s three 3-pointers off the bench.

Theeighth-seeded Hawkeyes climbed back into it, twice cutting it downto four but coming no closer.

“We knew theyhad another run in them,” Broome said. “We were like, ‘Let’s make astop and win this game.’"

Auburn hadsix players score in double figures. Wendell Green Jr. had 15points, and Donaldson, Jaylin Williams and KD Johnson each finishedwith 11. Allen Flanigan scored 10.

PaytonSandford scored 21 points for Iowa. Kris Murray had 15 points on5-of-18 shooting and nine rebounds. Filip Rebraca scored 14points.

The Hawkeyesfound themselves playing in essentially a road game. But theydeclined to use that as an excuse.

“We’re usedto playing in hostile environments,” Connor McCaffery said.“Obviously if we had our choice we would have preferred it to be alittle more neutral, but that’s not why we lost at all.

“We won atRutgers, we won at IU (Indiana) and those places are 100 timeslouder than it was here today.”

Iowa coachFran McCaffery, Connor’s father, echoed that sentiment after histeam ended with a third straight loss.

“Every gamein our league is a hostile environment so it cannot be an excuse,nor do we want to make it one,” he said. “We were right there, andyou have to give credit to your opponent.”

Johnson had ascary moment in the final minute of the first half.

He went upattempting to block a shot by Rebraca, who pump-faked and sentJohnson somersaulting over the top of the Iowa player.

The juniorguard landed with a thud on his lower back and buttocks, sendingthe crowd into a hushed silence. Johnson stayed down briefly,writhing in pain, before heading to the bench to get checked out.He played in the second half.

“I was justscared,” Johnson said. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt myselfin any other way. That was crazy.”

BIGPICTURE

Auburn: Madeseven 3-pointers in the second half after a 1-of-9 start.

Iowa: Felljust short of a fifth consecutive 20-win season. Missed all ninefirst-half 3-point attempts and finished 7 of 27 (25.9%) from deep.A team averaging 80 points a game was held to 26 in the firsthalf.

“Our speedand quickness was obviously a factor on the defensive end,” Auburncoach Bruce Pearl said.

UPNEXT

Auburn is 1-6all-time against Houston, among the favorites to win it all. TheTigers lost in the second round last season. The big question willbe the status of Cougars All-American Marcus Sasser, who aggravateda groin injury and didn’t play in the second half.