ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Rod Odom scored 16 points on Wednesday night as Vanderbilt defeated Georgia 59-54 and ended the Bulldogs’ eight-game home winning streak.
Odom scored Vanderbilt’s (11-8, 3-4 SEC) last field goal with 3:23 to play, nailing a 3-pointer to put the Commodores up 44-36. Vanderbilt made 15 of 21 free throws the rest of the way to thwart any comeback efforts by Georgia (10-9, 4-3).
Dai-Jon Parker scored 15 for Vanderbilt, and Kyle Fuller added 13 — 10 of those from the line.
Charles Mann led Georgia with 20 points, hitting 9 of 11 free throws. The Bulldogs shot 27 percent from the field and a woeful 4 for 23 from behind the 3-point line.
Brandon Morris’s 3-point basket 90 seconds into the game launched Georgia to an early 8-2 lead. But the Bulldogs did not make another 3 in the first half, missing 11 straight. The streak reached 17 straight misses before Georgia hit three of its last five 3-pointers in the last minute of a desperation comeback attempt.
The teams were tied 12-12 after Morris hit one free throw with 10:17 to play, but Vanderbilt went on a 13-2 run, highlighted by Odom’s four-point play.
The Commodores twice led by as much as 10 points, the last time at 27-17 after two free throws by Fuller with 4:51 to play. Vanderbilt did not score again in the first half.
Georgia managed to narrow the gap to 27-21 with 3:42 to play, and then the Bulldogs did not score again in the half.
Georgia took a different approach to start the second half as point guard Mann started to penetrate, getting two early layups and a free throw to help tie the game 28-all with 17:20 to go.
However, Vanderbilt regained the lead. The Commodores never put together a dramatic run, but gradually pulled away from the struggling Bulldogs.
Walk-on Taylor Echols hit a 3-pointer with 57.3 seconds to play that closed the gap for the Bulldogs to 51-44. Another 3-pointer by Mann with 15.8 seconds left cut it to 56-52, but an intentional foul on Georgia’s Kenny Paul Geno gave Vandy a chance to ice the game with 3 of 4 free throws.
Morris added 12 points for Georgia, which had not lost a home game since arch-rival Georgia Tech won 80-71 Nov. 15.
