Thursday March 28th, 2024 5:09PM

Georgia rallies in 2nd half, tops Auburn 96-84 in SEC opener

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Yante Maten scored 31 points and J.J. Frazier scored 27 as Georgia rolled to a 96-84 win over Auburn in both teams' SEC opener at Auburn Arena.

Maten shot 10 of 19 from the field and converted all nine of his free throw attempts. He also had eight rebounds in 27 minutes. Frazier was 9 of 16 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free throw line. He had five steals in 35 minutes.

With 7:27 left, Georgia (9-4, 1-0) began a 10-0 run to build an 86-76 lead and pull away. Maten, who scored 17 of his points in the second half, had four points over the 2:35 span.

Auburn (10-3, 0-1) shot 56.3 percent from the field and 50 percent (7 of 14) from downtown in the first half before heading into the locker room with a 51-43 lead. Georgia rallied in the second half, using a 13-2 run over a four-minute span midway through the half to get to within 68-67.

BIG PICTURE

Georgia, which rebounded from an 86-79 loss at Oakland on Dec. 23, now leads the all-time series 93-91. Jordan Harris added 12 points and Juwan Parker had 10.

Auburn had its four-game winning streak snapped. The Tigers shot 7 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half, but only 2 of 12 in the second half.

Mustapha Heron shot 7 of 13 from the field, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, for 19 points to lead Auburn. Danjel Purifoy added 13 points and six rebounds for the Tigers.

UP NEXT

Auburn tries to get back on track on Wednesday at Vanderbilt, which opened SEC play against LSU on Thursday. The Commodores, who are 5-1 in Memorial Gymnasium this season, have defeated Auburn 12 consecutive times dating back to 2007.

Georgia looks to keep rolling as it hosts South Carolina on Wednesday. The Gamecocks, who are 10-2, will be playing in their SEC opener.

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