No. 7 Florida Destroys Auburn In 83-52 Win
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Mike Rosario scored a season-high 22 points, Kenny Boynton had 16 and No. 7 Florida routed Auburn 83-52 on Saturday.
The Gators (21-3, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) raced to a 25-point halftime lead and set a season high with 15 3-pointers on 30 attempts.
It matched the worst loss for Auburn (9-16, 3-9) in coach Tony Barbee's three seasons, tying a 90-59 defeat against Mississippi on Feb. 16, 2011.
The Gators have won their last three SEC games by an average of 24 points since their only league loss at Arkansas.
Rosario had 18 points — two shy of his previous high this season — by halftime, when the game was effectively over. Michael Frazier added 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range for Florida, which has won seven straight at Auburn.
Erik Murphy added 11 points and went 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Chris Denson led Auburn with 13 points and Jordan Price had 12.
It was a brutally efficient performance by one of the SEC's hottest teams against one that is struggling badly, losing eight of nine.
The Gators hit 31 of 54 shots (57 percent) from the floor and held Auburn to 19-of-54 shooting (35 percent).
Florida had assists on 25 of 31 baskets and scored 18 points off Auburn's 14 turnovers.
Boynton broke Andrew DeClercq's school record with his 129th career start and hit four 3-pointers in nine attempts. Rosario scored on drives, including a nifty reverse layup, and hit a couple of 3s. He also dished out five assists and Boynton had four.
Scottie Wilbekin had six points, 10 assists and three steals for the Gators.
Rosario and the Gators did pretty much whatever they wanted in the first half, making the Tigers look helpless on drives and draining seven 3-pointers. They also kept Auburn's offense off balance as it struggled to find decent shots.
The final shot showed how easy it was for Florida. Wilbekin worked the clock and then pulled up for a long jumper over Noel Johnson with 2 seconds left. Auburn didn't score in the final 3:56.
The lead surged to 36 with 8 minutes left.
The Tigers got little production from seniors Rob Chubb and leading scorer Frankie Sullivan. Chubb had one point, didn't play in the second half and missed all four field goal attempts with four turnovers.
Sullivan, the team's leading scorer, came off the bench for the second straight game and had eight points in 19 minutes.
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