East St. Louis holds off pesky Knights

Auburn's signature man-to-man defense managed to slow down the high-powered East St. Louis Flyers, but an uncharacteristically bad game at the free throw dashed any hopes of an upset.

Auburn trailed just 31-22 at halftime against the Flyers, who are now 8-0 in 205 Tip-Off Classic play over two years. The Knights, though, missed at least eight layups in the first half and missed four of five free throws.

The Flyers pushed the lead to 19 points in the third quarter, but Auburn kept making enough baskets to keep it from being a runaway. The free throw line was key. Auburn finished just 12 of 20, while East St. Louis made eight of nine.

Macaleab Rich led the Flyers with 14 and Demarion Brown had 13. It was a tremendous game of contrasts. The Flyers played only player under 6-foot-3, while Auburn played only one player over 6-foot-3.

Adrian Agee led Auburn with 19 points on six three-pointers. Freshman Amir Danforth added 12.

BOXSCORE

East St. Louis 70, Rockford Auburn 58

East St. Louis ....... 14 17 21 18 - 70
Rockford Auburn..   6 16 11 25 - 58

EAST ST. LOUIS - Rich 6 2-2 14, Scott 3 0-0 8, D'N. Rucker 3 0-0 7, Da. Rucker 2 1-1 5, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Robinson 4 2-2 11, McCline 3 0-0 6, Boone 1 2-2 4, Brown 6 1-2 13. Totals 29 8-9 70.
AUBURN - Agee 6 1-2 19, Chaney 3 1-2 7, Parker 2 2-5 6, Horton-Lee 1 4-6 7, Miller 3 0-1 7, Danforth 3 4-4 12. Totals 18 12-20 58.
3-pointers: East St. Louis 4 (Scott 2, D'N. Rucker, Robinson), Auburn 10 (Agee 6, Danforth 2, Horton-Lee, Miller).