MBB brushes off slow start, holds off UGA

2656505.jpegPhoto by John Russell

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A.J. Ogilvy scored 18 points and Vanderbilt beat Georgia 50-40 on Wednesday night in the lowest scoring game for both teams this season.

“I thought our guys played excellent defensively,” said Kevin Stallings, VU head coach. “It was a hard-fought, hard-played game and we did just enough. We played hard defensively, but there are going to be nights like that. Georgia played hard. They had us on the ropes.”

The preseason All-SEC player had missed two of the past three games for Vanderbilt with a bone bruise in his right heal, including the Commodores’ SEC opener last weekend in Kentucky. But Ogilvy started, played 29 minutes and helped Vanderbilt (12-4, 1-1) win for the seventh time in eight games as they opened league play at home.

“On most nights, we’ll help him (Ogilvy) more,” Stallings added. “I didn’t think that I would ever come in here and look down at the stat sheet to see that Brad Tinsley had one field goal made and it was a dunk. When you look at what we did defensively, it was huge for us.”

Georgia (9-8, 0-2) lost its fourth straight overall. The Bulldogs had leads in each of the previous three games, blowing big leads in the second half of two of those including last weekend’s loss to Tennessee. This time, they led only briefly in the opening minutes.

Terrance Woodbury scored 10 points for the Bulldogs.

Vanderbilt now has won four straight in this series.