AUBURN, Ala. — The shorthanded University of Alabama men’s basketball team made a little history against Auburn University.
JaMychal Green scored 19 points, Trevor Releford added 15 to help Alabama race to a 68-50 win on Tuesday night.
It was Alabama’s most lopsided victory in the teams’ 52 meetings in Auburn.
The Crimson Tide (16-7, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) won its third straight since a four-game losing streak and didn’t slow down without suspended star Tony Mitchell.
“The energy and emotion and passion our guys played with, that was a lot of fun to watch,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “They were really into what we needed to do to win the game.”
Alabama used a 19-6 run to build a 19-point lead by the midpoint of the second half and coasted to its fourth consecutive win in the rivalry.
Green made 8 of 13 shots, including his second 3-pointer of the season. Releford capitalized on three first-half technical fouls against Auburn and was 9 of 10 from the free throw line.
He had six turnovers and five steals.
Charles Hankerson scored 14 points for the Tide and made 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He came in averaging 3.4 points and finished within two points of his career high.
“They were huge,” Grant said of Hankerson’s three first-half 3s. “We’ve had our struggles from the perimeter, so for Hank to be able to come in and knock those down when they were in the zone really helped us out a lot.”
Frankie Sullivan led Auburn with 21 points, 17 in the second half.
Rob Chubb had eight points and hit his first four baskets in the opening five minutes, but didn’t score again.
Grant announced Mitchell’s indefinite suspension for conduct detrimental to the team on Monday, leaving Alabama without its No. 2 scorer and rebounder.
Hankerson picked up much of the slack in his 23 minutes off the bench after providing a similar spark in last weekend’s double-overtime win over Mississippi.
Auburn committed 20 turnovers and made 12 of 26 free throws. Varez Ward turned it over six times and scored three points after pouring in 24 in a 91-88 loss at No. 20 Mississippi State.
“I got past my defenders a couple of times and just lost the ball,” Ward said.
The Tigers barely managed half of their previous game’s offensive production this time, going 17 of 41 from the field (41.5 percent) and making just 4 of 14 3-pointers (29 percent). Auburn is the fifth opponent Alabama has held to 50 points or less.
“It’s embarrassing,” Sullivan said. “Everybody in the state knows it. To come out and not play to our potential and give fans what they want to see, it’s embarrassing.”
The Tide came in as the league’s worst 3-point shooting team, but made 6 of 14 from beyond the arc to fall one 3 shy of its season high.
The Tigers cut into an 11-point deficit by scoring the first five points of the second half, but Alabama responded with its big run to take a 54-35 lead at the midway point.
The Tide led by as many as 20 before Sullivan scored seven straight to fuel a 9-0 Auburn run that cut it to 60-49 with 5:31 remaining.
Then Green scored on a putback, Releford hit two free throws after a flagrant foul was called on Sullivan and Green made a layup to end the threat.
“They got to the 50-50 balls and they were just outhustling us,” Sullivan said.
Alabama took a 35-24 lead into halftime, with help from three technical fouls called against Auburn. Chris Denson and Kenny Gabriel were whistled for hanging on the rim after dunks and Tigers coach Tony Barbee drew a third for protesting an offensive foul call against Chubb on a screen with 17 seconds left.
“Guys have to protect themselves when their legs are out from under them, so the referees made the right calls” on the dunks, Barbee said. “It had nothing to do with the officiating. We just did not play well.
“They came in here and played with a high level of confidence. At the end of the day, the game came down to toughness, and we got out-toughed.”
Releford hit all six resulting free throws, and Green hit a jumper off a pass from Andrew Steele with two seconds left.
“There was a momentum change, so we tried our best to take advantage of that and did a great job,” Green said.
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