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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jeffery Taylor scored 16 points to lead Vanderbilt to an 83-62 victory over Central Arkansas on Wednesday night.
Vanderbilt (3-1) made its first six field-goal attempts and never trailed. The Commodores led by as many as 25 points in the first half and took a 48-29 halftime lead.
“We built a nice lead in the first half and kept our turnovers down,” Kevin Stallings, VU head coach, said, “but this wasn’t the performance that I was hoping for.”
Central Arkansas (2-2) opened the second half with an 18-6 run, including five straight points by Mike Pouncy, but could draw no closer than 12 points with 12:31 remaining.
“We didn’t play so well in the second half because we lost patience and they held on to the ball,” Stallings added. “We didn’t play well with a big lead but this is the first time this season that we’ve been in that situation.”
Taylor made 7-of-10 field goal attempts, including a pair of first-half dunks, and matched his career high while scoring in double figures for his fourth straight game.
George Drake scored 14 points and Festus Ezeli added 11, both career highs.
“Both of them got good looks in the game,” remarked Stallings. “George played aggressively and made some nice plays. It was good to see him do well because he’s been banged up.”
Marcus Pillow made five 3-pointers for the Bears for a game-high 17 points. Mitch Rueter added 16 and Pouncy and Chris Brown each had 12.
Chris Meriwether also saw the first minutes of his Vanderbilt career in VU’s win.
