Field Level Media
Feb 24, 2018
Tyler Davis scored 22 points and had nine rebounds as hot-shooting Texas A&M staved off Vanderbilt's late comeback attempt, beating the Commodores 89-81 on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn.
Texas A&M shot 58.8 percent from the field. T.J. Starks (18 points), D.J. Hogg (16) and Admon Gilder (11) led the Aggies (18-11, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) in scoring alongside Davis.
Riley LaChance (23 points), Jeff Roberson (21) and Saben Lee (19) led the scoring for Vanderbilt (11-18, 5-11 SEC).
It snapped Vandy's five-game home winning streak, and it marked the first time the Aggies have won at Vanderbilt.
The Commodores rallied from 24 down with under seven minutes to play to cut the lead to four, but Gilder went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 1:04 to seal the win.
Vandy cut it to four on Lee's driving lay-up along the right baseline with 35 seconds left and a LaChance 3-pointer seconds later, but couldn't get closer.
Key to A&M's victory was holding Roberson and LaChance, Vandy's two leading scorers, to 14-of-36 from the field.
Texas A&M led by 12 at half, and never let Vanderbilt within single digits until the final two minutes.
The Aggies took their first 20-point lead on guard Jay Jay Chandler's lay-up with 9:24 left. A pair of Starks foul shots at 6:52 gave A&M its biggest lead at 72-48.
Texas A&M quickly opened up a 21-9 lead at the 12:21 mark of the first half, hitting seven of their first 10 shots, including three 3-pointers.
The Commodores, playing without backup center D'Jery Baptiste, couldn't handle the Aggies' size from the start, and it only got worse.
Vandy center Ejike Obinna picked up his third foul in his second minute of action at the 11:52 mark, but the Commodores had to bring him back moments later. Obinna fouled out in the second half after 15 minutes of court time.
In the meantime, A&M hit from everywhere. Vanderbilt's defensive troubles inside left things open for the Aggies' outside shooters, who made 5 of 9 3-pointers in the first half.
The lead became 41-23 when Hogg buried an open 3 at 3:46.
Vanderbilt whittled the lead to 43-31 at half after the 6-foot-2 Lee drove the lane and dunked over A&M center Robert Williams, who has an eight inch height advantage.
--Field Level Media