Vanderbilt shooting sinks Arizona State

Saben Lee scored 14 points to lead five players in double figures, and sharpshooting Vanderbilt beat No. 18 Arizona State 81-65 on Monday night in Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt snapped an eight-game skid against ranked opponents that dated to an overtime win over Florida in the 2017 SEC tournament. The Commodores (7-2) also beat Arizona State for the first time in five tries on the Sun Devils’ first visit to Memorial Gym.

The Commodores had a big night from beyond the arc, hitting 6 of 12 from deep in the first half and 12 of 28 for the game.

Aaron Nesmith added 13 points off the bench for Vanderbilt. Yanni Wetzell had 12, and Matt Ryan and Joe Toye had 11 each.

Arizona State, which moved up two spots in the AP Top 25 earlier Monday, has lost two of three.

Rob Edwards led Arizona State with 14 points. Luguentz Dort came in as the fourth-highest freshman scorer in the nation averaging 20.9 points, but he had just 10 points. Zylan Cheatham had 14 rebounds.

This was the first game after the Commodores’ 12day break for finals and is the second part of a homeand-home with Arizona State. The Sun Devils won 76-64 in Tempe last season.

Arizona State opened by scoring the first nine points as Vanderbilt missed its first six shots. After that, the Commodores finished the first half outscoring the Sun Devils 34-19, including an 18-3 run over the final 6:49.

Vanderbilt pushed that to 37-28 when Ryan hit a 3 to open the second half. Dort scored five straight points to pull Arizona State within 37-34, but that was as close as the Sun Devils got.

Rankings: Kansas, Duke and Tennessee are atop the latest AP Top 25 poll for the second straight week.

The Jayhawks earned 56 of 65 first-place votes to stay at No. 1. Michigan and Virginia each climbed a spot into the top 5. Gonzaga slid four spots to eighth after losing at North Carolina, which jumped three spots to ninth. No. 25 Nebraska was the only addition to this week’s poll.