Chris Denson scored 17 points, Kenny Gabriel added 16 and Frankie Sullivan 14 as Auburn made more than half its shots en route to a 72-59 victory over visiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday.

Auburn (4-0), which shot 51 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range, improved to 4-0 against the Golden Lions (1-4).

The Tigers built their largest lead 49-27 when Sullivan hit a jumper with 18:46 to play, but Pine Bluff clawed back. Kyle Jones hit three of his five 3-pointers during a 15-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 51-42.

That was as close as the Golden Lions would get as Gabriel scored seven more points down the stretch to help send Auburn to its first 4-0 start since 2006.

Denson and Sullivan couldn’t miss toward the end of the first half as Auburn turned a slim lead into a huge halftime cushion. Leading 24-20, the Tigers spent the final four minutes on a 20-5 run, mostly because of five 3-pointers.

After Denson nailed a 3, Sullivan hit consecutive long balls to make it 36-23 with 2:15 left. Sullivan added another and with two seconds to play, Gabriel hit a 3, Auburn’s eighth in 11 first half attempts, as the Tigers took a 44-25 halftime lead.