Barber Leads Auburn Past No. 12 Alabama

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) _ Jermareo Davidson hardly recognized the Auburn team that was swiping the ball, streaking to the basket and otherwise having its way with No. 12 Alabama. <br/><br/>The Tigers were quicker

Wednesday, January 24th 2007, 6:04 am

By: News On 6

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) _ Jermareo Davidson hardly recognized the Auburn team that was swiping the ball, streaking to the basket and otherwise having its way with No. 12 Alabama.

The Tigers were quicker and more aggressive in Tuesday night's 81-57 thrashing of Davidson and the Crimson Tide, which had won seven meetings in a row.

``In four years they finally got me,'' said Davidson, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds. ``It was like a totally new team to me.''

The Tigers (13-8, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) certainly managed a new result, thoroughly dominating after trailing 36-35 at halftime. Alabama (15-4, 2-3) has lost its three SEC road games by an average of 24 points against unranked teams.

Auburn has now won two games against ranked teams in a six-day stretch after ending an 0-for-15 stretch against then-No. 22 Tennessee.

The Tigers held Alabama to 21 points and 32 percent shooting after halftime.

``That's as good as we can play in the second half,'' Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. ``It's a good win if you're an Auburn fan. We took a step into the pond with the win over Tennessee. We dove in tonight.''

In other Top 25 games on Tuesday night, it was: No. 16 Air Force 72, TCU 39; St. John's 71, No. 22 Notre Dame 68; Illinois 51, No. 23 Indiana 43; and No. 24 Virginia Tech 92, Miami 85.

Korvotney Barber scored 18 points, Frank Tolbert added 17 and Josh Dollard had 16 for Auburn. Quan Prowell had 14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Tolbert shot 6-for-7, the only miss an errant 3-pointer in the final 2 minutes.

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried was left searching for answers after his team had ``kind of a meltdown'' in the second half.

``We've got to do a lot of things to get ourselves back where we need to be,'' Gottfried said. ``I don't think right now we're playing nearly the way we can play.''

It was the largest victory margin of any unranked Auburn team against a ranked foe. The Tigers surpassed their win total of last season.

``A lot of people doubted us, (saying) that we couldn't beat Alabama,'' Dollard said. ``They thought the Tennessee game was a fluke.''

The Tigers have even higher stakes on Saturday, hosting No. 1 Florida.

Ronald Steele led Alabama with 19 points, but he also had five turnovers. Davidson managed only two points after halftime. Alonzo Gee had 11 points.

Richard Hendrix played much of the game in foul trouble and finished with just four points _ 10 below his average _ in 19 minutes.

Steele made five of nine 3-pointers. The rest of the team was 0-for-10, unable to counter Auburn's aggressive, trapping defense.

``Our quickness and our aggressiveness was the difference in this game,'' Lebo said.

The Tigers had 12 steals and dished out assists on 22 of 34 baskets. Quantez Robertson led Auburn with 10 assists.

No. 16 Air Force 72, TCU 39

At Air Force Academy, Colo., Dan Nwaelele scored 13 points and Air Force used sharp shooting and a stifling defense to cruise past TCU for their 27th straight home win.

Matt McCraw and Tim Anderson each added 11 points for the Falcons (19-2, 6-1 Mountain West), who turned the tables on TCU, which brought the league's best field-goal percentage defense (41 percent) into Clune Arena but were quickly overwhelmed at both ends of the court.

Brent Hackett scored nine points for the Horned Frogs (10-8, 2-4).

St. John's 71, No. 22 Notre Dame 68

At New York, Larry Wright hit a 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds to play to give St. John's a victory over Notre Dame, the Red Storm's second straight last-minute win at Madison Square Garden.

Lamont Hamilton scored all of his 23 points in the first half for St. John's (12-8, 3-4 Big East), which beat Syracuse 64-60 on Sunday on two late 3-pointers by Avery Patterson.

Notre Dame (16-4, 4-3) tied it at 68 with 40 seconds to go on the second of two free throws by Colin Falls.

Russell Carter scored a career-high 32 points to lead Notre Dame.

Illinois 51, No. 23 Indiana 43

At Champaign, Ill., Rich McBride scored 15 points to help Illinois beat Indiana for its first win against a ranked opponent in five tries this season.

D.J. White scored 12 points for Indiana (14-5, 4-2 Big Ten), which had a five-game winning streak snapped.

Both teams had horrific shooting nights as Indiana was just 17-for-44 (39 percent) and Illinois was 17-for-42 (40 percent).

No. 24 Virginia Tech 92, Miami 85

At Coral Gables, Fla., Zabian Dowdell scored a career-high 30 points to help Virginia Tech beat Miami.

Deron Washington added 23 points and scored on two separate three-point plays in the final 1:16 to secure the victory for the Hokies (15-5, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won six of their last seven.

Dennis Clemente scored 24 points for Miami (9-12, 2-5), which has lost four straight.