No. 7 Saint Mary's (Calif.)
Men's Basketball
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt men’s basketball held off a second-half comeback to defeat No. 24 Ole Miss 77-72 in Memorial Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
The Commodores (18-9, 6-8 SEC) went on a 7-0 run midway through the first half to extend their lead to 19 points. A late 10-0 run from Ole Miss (19-8, 8-6 SEC) cut into Vandy’s advantage but a triple from Jason Edwards with under a minute to play kept the Dores up by eight heading into the break.
Ole Miss came out fast in the second half, going on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 16:08. The two squads traded blows for the next 11 minutes, with neither team leading by more than four points. Down 64-63 with 5:17 on the clock, Vanderbilt put up nine unanswered points to pull away from the Rebels and close out the Dores’ sixth SEC win of the season.
Vanderbilt had four players in double figures. Chris Mañon led the Dores in scoring with a season-high 16 points and added seven rebounds. Edwards extended his double-digit scoring streak to 12 games, contributing 15 points for Vandy. For the second straight contest, Devin McGlockton scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Tyler Nickel totaled 13 points in the win.
Malik Dia paced the Rebels with 22 points and seven boards. Sean Pedulla and Jaylen Murray each contributed double-digits for Ole Miss adding 21 and 10 points, respectively.
The Commodores never trailed in the first half and maintained a lead for 35:37. The team shot 46.2 percent from the field and went 11-for-22 in the second half.
Vanderbilt hits the road to College Station, Texas, to play No. 7 Texas A&M on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
