AUBURN — Auburn basketball needed a win, and the Tigers delivered.

It wasn't exactly pretty for coach Bruce Pearl's team − Auburn shot 36.4% in the first half − but the Tigers locked up on the defensive end to cruise to a comfortable 81-54 triumph over Vanderbilt in Neville Arena. It's the first victory for Auburn in nearly two weeks, as the Tigers (17-4, 6-2 SEC) dropped road contests at Alabama on Jan. 24 and Mississippi State on Saturday by a combined 10 points.

Auburn's win Wednesday evening completed a season-sweep of the Commodores, who have fallen in seven of their past eight games against the Tigers. Vanderbilt (5-15, 0-7), which entered No. 238 in the NET rankings, was comfortably the worst team left on Auburn's schedule. The next worst squad is Missouri (122), followed by Georgia (78), Ole Miss (57) and Florida (41).

The Tigers are tied for second place in the SEC with South Carolina.

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Auburn basketball's Denver Jones finds shooting stroke early versus Vanderbilt

Florida International transfer Denver Jones sank a trio of 3-pointers before he missed his first shot against the Commodores. That early flurry of triples − he made three before four minutes had elapsed off the clock − led Jones to scoring a season-high 19 points.

Jones, Jaylin Williams (21) and Johni Broome (16) combined to outscore the Commodores by themselves.

Remove the free throws

Vanderbilt opened the game shooting 18.5% from the field through the first 18:41, missing all but five of its first 22 shots. The only thing that kept the Commodores alive − they were down 10 at halftime − was their ability to get to the foul line. Vanderbilt sank nine first-half foul shots.

Block party for Johni Broome

Senior center Johni Broome finished with five blocks, all of which came in the opening 20 minutes. It ties his season-high mark, which he set against the Crimson Tide. It's the fifth time in his Auburn career that he's logged at least five rejections against a conference foe.

What's next on Auburn basketball's schedule?

The Tigers head back out on the road for a matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday (5 p.m. CT, SEC Network). Auburn beat the Rebels earlier this season in Neville Arena, but coach Chris Beard's team is 13-0 at home this season.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball never trails in easy home win over Vanderbilt