Photo by Daniel DuBois
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A.J. Ogilvy scored a career-high 28 points and Vanderbilt had its best scoring night this season in routing South Carolina 96-83 Saturday night, keeping the Commodores very faint NCAA tournament dreams alive.
The Gamecocks (20-7, 9-5) came in sitting alone atop the SEC East, having won four of their last five. They scored the opening basket, and that was their only lead of the night as they trailed by as much as 25.
“In the first half, I thought we did a good job defensively,” Kevin Stallings, VU head coach, said. “In the second half, we were content to score with them.”
Vanderbilt (17-11, 6-8) snapped a two-game skid, coming off its worst shooting performance of the season in a loss at Georgia. The Commodores made up for that by hitting 11 of their first 13 against South Carolina.
Jermaine Beal also had a career-high with 27 points for Vanderbilt. Jeffery Taylor added 17 and Brad Tinsley 16.
“I thought we got great play from A.J. Ogilvy and Jermaine Beal,” Stallings noted.
Devan Downey led South Carolina with 24 points. Zam Fredrick added 21, Brandis Raley-Ross 15 and Mike Holmes 12.
“I thought our defense on [Devan] Downey was very good,” added Stallings. “He had 24 points, but it took him a lot of shots to get there.”
