By Bradley Handwerger
DAILY Sports Writer
bhandwerger@decaturdaily.com · 340-2462

AUBURN — It was the perfect ending to an imperfect regular season for Quinnel Brown and Auburn.

The Tigers senior forward is listed at 6-foot-6, though he says he's really only 6-4. All season long, he's battled players 6-9 and taller.

But Saturday against Arkansas in his final home college basketball game, size didn't matter for Brown.

He went 8-for-8 from the floor, scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds as Auburn beat the Razorbacks 77-64 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

"It feels good, knowing I'm undersized," said Brown, who tied his Southeastern Conference career scoring best. "Basically every game I've played, it's been against guys who are 6-foot-10 to 7-foot-2."

Said Arkansas head coach Stan Heath: "Quinnel Brown was a difficult matchup for us. You go small and play into their hands. You go big and he's able to make things happen"

Up 32-27 at halftime, Auburn (13-16, 4-12 SEC) came out and shut down the Razorbacks (18-11, 6-10).

Arkansas missed its first seven shots during the first 7 minutes, 30 seconds of the second half, and Auburn forced four turnovers on its way to a 12-0 run that broke the game open.

In all, Arkansas turned the ball over 24 times, which Auburn turned into 28 points.

Senior Ian Young, who finished with nine points, hit a 3-pointer following an Arkansas turnover to give Auburn a 36-27 lead. Thirty seconds later, Brown made a layup following another Arkansas mistake to make it 38-27.

When freshman Toney Douglas nailed a 3-pointer with 13:51 left in the game, Auburn took its biggest lead of the day at 44-27.

"We couldn't execute on the ball and we were forcing the ball inside," said Arkansas guard Ronnie Brewer, who finished with 16 points.

"Overall, we just weren't being aggressive. We couldn't penetrate with the ball. We would pass the ball around one or two times and take a shot instead of taking the shot when we had the chance."

Arkansas began to heat midway through the final half, though, and cut the lead to eight at 55-47 with 7:10 to go.

But Auburn gained momentum back at the free-throw line, where the Tigers made 22 of 33. While Arkansas couldn't get to the line, making it there for only 10 shots, Auburn's last 14 points came on foul shots.

The Tigers last field goal came with 4:46 left when Douglas, who scored 18 points, hit a 3-pointer to make it 63-47.

"It is a nice win to get going into the SEC tournament," Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said. "We have played well in some games this season and we played bad in some games this season. This is our style of play and you are going to get that kind of result."

Auburn lost to Arkansas by 36 points when the two played Jan. 22. In that game, the Razorbacks outrebounded the Tigers by seven boards and only turned the ball over eight times. On Saturday, Auburn was outrebounded by only one board and shot 46.9 percent, 11 percent better than the first game.

"For us to turn around, they beat us by 36 and we come back and beat them by 13 at home, that's just a credit to our kids," Lebo said. "We had more questions about quitting. These kids are not going to quit. You can see that. These seniors are not going to let that happen."

Subscribe for only 33¢ a day!