Missouri rode a hot shooting night to an 84-74 win over Auburn on Wednesday at Mizzou Arena, improving to 13-4 overall and 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play.Jayden Stone led the Tigers with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 effort at the free-throw line. The graduate student also added six rebounds and three assists. Mark Mitchell followed with 20 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists, while Trent Pierce scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including five three-pointers, to tie a career high. T.O. Barrett added a career-best 13 points and contributed three assists and two steals.
Auburn, which fell to 10-7 overall and 1-3 in league play, jumped out early by forcing Missouri to miss 10 of its first 11 shots and building a 12-5 lead. Missouri answered behind Pierce, who sparked a rally with an and-one and a three-pointer as the Tigers pulled within one.
After Anthony Robinson II tied the game at 18 with a three, Barretts layup gave Missouri its first lead. The Tigers closed the half by making nine of their final 10 shots to take a 38-34 advantage into the break.
Missouri opened the second half with a 5-0 run, capped by a Mitchell and-one, to push the lead to nine. Auburn trimmed the margin to three before Missouri answered with a 6-0 spurt highlighted by another Pierce three-pointer. A steal and transition triple by Pierce later extended the lead to 12 at 67-55.
Auburn made one final push with a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to four with three minutes remaining, but Missouri closed the game at the free-throw line, going 5 of 6 down the stretch.
Missouri finished the game shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 9 of 19 from three-point range. Auburn shot 40.7 percent overall and went 6 of 21 from beyond the arc.
The Tigers travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
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