Georgia Basketball falls in regular season finale at Auburn
Georgia Basketball came away on the losing end of the regular season finale Saturday as the Bulldogs hit the road to Auburn. The 13th-ranked Tigers handed UGA their 15th loss of the season and 12th in SEC play in a 92-78 rematch of the two rivals.
Three Georgia players finished in double figures with Silas Demary leading the way. The freshman poured in 15 and was joined by Russel Tchewa (14) and Noah Thomasson (12). Tchewa also had 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double.
Meanwhile, for Auburn, Denver Jones owned the night with 21. Johni Broome, Jaylin Williams and Dylan Cardwell also finished with at least 10.
How It Happened…
Auburn jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in the first half. An 8-0 run put the Tigers up by nine, and a second 3-pointer from Denver Jones extended the advantage to double digits.
Georgia’s big men did the early scoring for the Bulldogs with Dylan James and Russel Tchewa combining for six of the first 11, getting UGA back to within three before Auburn scored 12 of the next 13 and quickly was back ahead by a wide margin at the halfway point of the first period.
Georgia got as close as seven in the final 10:00 of the first half, doing so twice thanks to made buckets from Silas Demary and RJ Melendez. Once again however, Auburn took control and went into the locker room ahead by 14, leading 45-31.
The Tigers started the second half strong as Jones hit three straight 3-pointers for the Tigers to extend their lead to 20. However, a 9-0 run by Georgia cut into the deficit some with Justin Hill hitting a pair of shots from deep himself. Johni Broome ended the run with a layup, part of yet another strong performance against Georgia.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Demary and Noah Thomasson cut Georgia’s deficit down from 19 to 13 with just over 5:00 to go and as few as 12 down the stretch, but Auburn was able to maintain a lead to the end.
Next up for Georgia, now 16-15 on the season, is the SEC Tournament. With the results of the regular season finales across the conference, the Bulldogs will be in action as the 11-seed, taking on the league’s last place team Missouri on Wednesday. The Tigers entered the final day of the regular season without a win in SEC play and at 8-22 overall. Tip time against Missouri is set for approximately 9:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network, starting 25 minutes after the completion of Game 1 (the 12 and 13 seeds).
