The University of Tennessee men's basketball team led from start to finish Saturday night in a 77-69 win against Auburn at a sold-out Food City Center.
Freshman forward Nate Ament, who went 12-of-15 at the line, led all scorers with 22 points for Tennessee (15-6, 5-3) in the team's third consecutive triumph.
Ament became the first Volunteer with 12-plus made free throws and/or 15-plus attempts since Jan. 23, 2019, and the first with 15-plus attempts in a regulation contest since Nov. 13, 2018. In addition, he became the first SEC freshman with 15-plus attempts in over three years, plus co-led all players with eight rebounds.
Jaylen Carey finished with 13 points and matched Ament in the rebound column, as did sophomore guard Bishop Boswell and freshman guard Amari Evans who had seven and six points, respectively. Senior guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie tallied 11 points and a team-high five assists, while freshman forward DeWayne Brown II notched 10 points, seven rebounds, a career-best four assists and a career-high two steals.
Ament, Boswell, Carey and Evans became the second Tennessee quartet with eight-plus rebounds in the same game over the last 20 seasons (2006-26) and the first since Dec. 23, 2013.
Brown gave the Volunteers a quintet of players with seven-plus boards for the first time in the last two decades, marking just the 12th such occurrence by an SEC team in that span.
Senior forward Keyshawn Hall, after starting 1-of-8 from the field through 28 minutes, finished 7-of-17 to lead the Tigers with 21 points. He not only made six of his final nine field goals, but also three of his last five 3-point tries after a 0-of-4 beginning.
Sophomore guard Tahaad Pettiford put up 11 points, but the Volunteers limited him to a 4-of-14 field-goal clip that included just a 2-of-11 ledger from long range. No other Tiger reached double figures.
Up next for Tennessee is a second consecutive home game at Food City Center, where it takes the court Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a matchup with Ole Miss, live on ESPN2.