No. 22 Tennessee tops Vanderbilt
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jordan Bowden scored 19 points, Lamonte’ Turner hit a huge three-pointer and No. 22 Tennessee nearly blew a 20-point second-half lead before hanging on for a 67-62 victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
Tennessee (14-5, 5-3 SEC) earned its fifth victory in six games and withstood the performance of Vanderbilt’s Riley LaChance, who scored all of his 25 points in the second half.
After trailing 41-21 with 14½ minutes left, Vanderbilt (7-13, 2-6) cut Tennessee’s lead to 60-58 when Jeff Roberson made one of two free-throw attempts with 1:19 remaining. Turner answered by sinking a three-pointer with 1:03 left.
LaChance missed a threepoint attempt on Vanderbilt’s next possession to set up a layup by Bowden that extended Tennessee’s lead to 65-58 with 33 seconds left. Tennessee’s lead wouldn’t drop below five the rest of the way.
Grant Williams scored 19 points for Tennessee, two weeks after compiling 37 points in a 92-84 triumph at Vanderbilt. Roberson had 21 points for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt announced before the game that senior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis would miss the rest of the season with an injured right shoulder. Fisher-Davis has made 70 career starts and was averaging 11.9 points per game to rank second on the team.
MISSISSIPPI 78, ALABAMA 66
scored Markel and undefeated play. though OXFORD, Ole Ole Mississippi Alabama Miss Miss winning Crawford 24 its points, 41-31 at led (11-9, Miss. home (13-7, streak the beat both — halftime 4-4 Terence entire during Alabama. snapped. 5-3) Deandre scored SEC) second had conference advantage Davis remained 15 its Burnett points fourgame half, and was responded create for the quickly some victory. with cut separation to a crucial 43-42. and 15-6 The pull Rebels run away to consecutive Alabama’s played 20 games star minutes freshman with after an missing Collin abdominal Sexton two injury. just He 2 was of 13 mostly from ineffective, the field. shooting wide The swings first half in of momentum the game with featured Ole Miss taking an early 18-9 lead. Alabama responded with 18 consecutive points before Ole Miss came right back with 14 in a row. The Rebels ended the first half on a 23-4 run to take a 10-point lead by halftime. Ole Miss’ Burnett led all players with 16 points in the first half, making 6 of 8 shots from the field, including 3 of 4 from three-point range. Alabama was led by Donta Hall’s 14 points. Dazon Ingram scored 10 points.
LSU 77, TEXAS A&M 65
BATON ROUGE — Duop Reath scored 21 points skid a 14 He One loss shots points, scored with game and at and Vanderbilt, a the LSU victory Tremont after also game’s snapped grabbed scoring over Waters Reath first Texas a 31 8 three-game four made rebounds. added points A&M. points 9 15 of in and an early helped victory. double-digit LSU (12-7, lead 3-4 in SEC) a wire-to-wire build steals Waters for also LSU, had and nine his assists highlights and eight included two breakaway layups he created with steals and a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down from about 25 feet with a little more than two minutes remaining. Aaron Epps added 12 points for the Tigers, who won an SEC game at home for the first time in four tries. Robert Williams had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Aggies (13-7, 2-6), who came in having won two consecutive, but now have lost six of eight.
KENTUCKY 78, MISSISSIPPI STATE 65
had LEXINGTON, a career-high Ky. 22 — points, PJ Washington Kevin Knox scored 19 points with four three-pointers and Kentucky pulled away late for a victory over Mississippi State to end a two-game losing streak. A day after the Wildcats fell out of the top 25 for the first time since March 2014, Washington and Knox helped end their skid from the foul line and perimeter respectively. Washington made 10 of 14 free throws along with 6-of-10 shooting to top his previous best against Monmouth by two points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 16 points, including eight in the second half to help Kentucky (15-5, 5-3 SEC) eventually seize a back-and-forth game between teams coming off losses. The Wildcats shot 43 percent but made 23 of 30 free throws. Quinndary Weatherspoon had 19 points and Nick Weatherspoon 10 for the Bulldogs (14-6, 2-5), who shot just 39 percent and were outrebounded 4131 while losing their second consecutive SEC contest and fifth in sixth games.