Men’s Hoops Take Down Jacksonville State

Men’s Hoops Take Down Jacksonville State

11/18/2005

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Shan Foster scored 17 points and Vanderbilt won its 10th straight season-opener with a 67-46 victory over Jacksonville State on Friday night.

Ted Skuchas matched a career-high with 11 points as Vanderbilt (1-0) shook off a slow first half and cruised to victory. Julian Terrell scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Vanderbilt, which shot

39 percent from the field in the first half and 64 percent in the second. Virginia transfer Derrick Byars scored 10 points in his Vanderbilt debut.

B.J. Spencer scored 16 to lead Jacksonville State (0-1). Last season’s leading scorer, Walker Russell, was held to five points before leaving the game midway through the second half with a right foot injury.

The Vanderbilt offense struggled at the outset without senior point guard Mario Moore, a preseason second-team All-SEC selection who is serving a two-game suspension for violating team rules. The Commodores scored just 10
points in the game’s first nine minutes and missed nine of its first 11 shots.

Vanderbilt eventually pulled away in the second half, using a 22-5 run to build a 56-36 lead with 7:43 remaining.

Vanderbilt has won 25 straight non-conference home games and is 28-1 all-time in season-openers at Memorial Gym.

Jacksonville State is 2-29 all-time vs. Southeastern Conference opponents. The Commodores return to the Memorial Gymnasium court Sunday to take on Furman at 5 p.m.