Brown Keys Pepperdine Victory

Gerald Brown scored 10 points during a late 13-1 run to lead Pepperdine to a 62-55 victory over Auburn in the first round of Brigham Young’s Cougar Classic on Friday.

Brown scored 28 points for Pepperdine (5-2) and Jelani Gardner added 12.

Auburn (5-2) led, 44-43, on Mamadou N’Diaye’s hook shot with 7:55 to play. But Brown answered with a six-foot jumper and a layup to put Pepperdine ahead to stay.

Bryant Smith led Auburn with 14 points. N’Diaye and Franklin Williams had 10 points each.

Pepperdine used 10 points from Brown during a 20-5 run to build a 32-16 lead with five minutes to play in the first half.

But Auburn answered with 10 consecutive points and trailed, 32-26, on N’Diaye’s slam dunk with 28 seconds left in the half.

Pepperdine led, 34-26, at the half as Gardner hit an 18-foot shot with five seconds remaining.