NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ezra Manjon’s basket at the buzzer sent the opening game of the 2024 SEC Tournament to overtime, but despite the guard’s career-high 29 points Vanderbilt dropped a 90-85 contest to Arkansas in the first round of the event at Bridgestone Arena Wednesday.
With the Commodores (9-23) trailing by four in the final seconds of regulation, Manjon drove for a layup with 13 seconds to go. Malik Pressley then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and gave the ball to Manjon, who hit a short jumper as time expired to send the game to an extra period.
Khalif Battle recorded seven of Arkansas’ 12 overtime points, however, to help the Razorbacks improve to 16-16 and a matchup in the second round with South Carolina. He finished with 24 points in all, while Tramon Mark scored all 18 of his points in the second half. Makhi Mitchell also scored 18 points for the Razorbacks, with Trevon Brazile adding 13 and Davonte Davis 12. Davis led all players with 12 rebounds as well.
Ven-Allen Lubin added his second straight double-double for the Dores, finishing the night with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while JaQualon “JQ” Roberts chipped in with a career-best 10 points.
Vandy closed the first half with a 14-2 run over the final five and a half minutes highlighted by Manjon hitting each of the Dores’ last three baskets to make the score 41-27 at the break. The Razorbacks managed to even the contest with less than nine minutes to go, and were up by as many as eight in the waning minutes before Vandy’s rally.
Arkansas shot 48.4 percent in the second half and made 4 of 7 shots in overtime while also connecting on 88.5 percent at the free-throw line in the contest. Vandy made 52.4 percent from the floor overall, but was 13 of 21 at the foul line.
