Missouri 91, Auburn 77
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Earnest Ross played two years for the Auburn Tigers. On Saturday, he was a major player in beating Auburn.
Ross, who transferred from Auburn to Missouri before last season, scored 23 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range in a 91-77 victory by Missouri at Mizzou Arena.
Ross got plenty of help from fellow transfer Keion Bell, who had a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. The outputs were Mizzou highs for both players.
Auburn hung around for much of the first half and trailed, 34-30, with 3:54 to play before the break. But Bell scored seven points during an 11-5 finish to the half to put Mizzou up, 45-35, at the break.
Auburn briefly got to within eight points early in the second half, but a 3-pointer from Phil Pressey started an 11-0 Missouri run that put the game away. Pressey, who took 22 shots in a 73-70 loss at LSU on Wednesday, attempted only two shots from the floor against Auburn. He scored only four points, but dished out 10 assists in the win.
Bell missed Wednesday's loss at LSU because of a shoulder injury, but showed no ill effects on Saturday.
Laurence Bowers scored 12 points for Missouri in his second game back after missing five because of an MCL sprain.
Frankie Sullivan led Auburn with 12 points. Rob Chubb scored 10, but was limited to 19 minutes by foul trouble.
NOTES: Missouri had all of its players available for only the third time this season, and the first since Dec. 22 against Illinois. ... Alex Oriakhi scored 11 points, pushing him over the 1,000-point mark for his career. ... Missouri is 5-0 at home in the SEC this season, but 0-3 in league road games. ... The teams combined to be called for 49 fouls and shot 69 free throws.
