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Tennessee Tops Vanderbilt 76-66 1/14/2004
Tennessee Tops Vanderbilt 76-66 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brandon Crump and Scooter McFadgon each scored 20 points Wednesday night to help Tennessee beat No. 23 Vanderbilt 76-66. C.J. Watson had 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Volunteers (10-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference), who claimed the lead midway through the first half and fought off a rally by the Commodores in the final minutes. Vanderbilt (12-2, 1-2) has lost two straight since having the school’s best start with 12 straight wins. The Commodores were down by 11 points with 5:08 left but had an 11-3 run to cut it to 65-62 with 2:51 to go. McFadgon ended Vanderbilt’s flurry with a 3-pointer — his first field goal of the second half. Jemere Hendrix, who was 0-of-2 from beyond the arc before the game, hit another 3 to seal it for Tennessee with 1:32 remaining. With leading scorer Matt Freije struggling offensively, Vanderbilt turned to other players. Scott Hundley scored all 11 of his points in the second half and made six free throws during Vanderbilt’s final run. Mario Moore also had 11 points and David Przybyszewski and Julian Terrell each added 10 for the Commodores. Freije, who came in averaging 18.3 points, finished with eight points on 2-of-12 shooting. McFadgon was 5-of-12 from the field and had 13 points in the first half. He had four points in a key run that gave Tennessee the lead. Vanderbilt had control early and led by as many as five points in the first half before the Vols overcame some sloppy play. Tennessee had 17 turnovers in the game. Tied at 22, Tennessee had an 8-1 run, capped by Dane Bradshaw’s basket with 3:29 to go for a 30-23 lead. McFadgon had a driving layup and then scored as he was falling down and the shot clock was winding down in the middle of the spurt. Vanderbilt cut Tennessee’s lead to four at the beginning of the second half but couldn’t sustain a rally. The Vols responded with an 8-0 run to go up 44-32 with 14:32 left. Watson nearly had Tennessee’s first-ever triple double but fell short with seven assists. |
