NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Visiting Southern Methodist survived Vanderbilt’s barrage of 3s to escape Memorial Gymnasium with an 92-81 win in overtime Saturday.
The Commodores (8-5) hit 15 shots from long range and got 29 points from Aaron Nesmith, but SMU used a pair of late surges to eventually tie the game and send it to overtime.
The Mustangs had a 10-0 run to get with 72-67 with 88 seconds to play and a Tyson Jolly 3 with 26.9 left made it 77-74. A Vandy turnover led to an Isiaha Mike triple from the top of the key that tied the game at 77-77.
The Commodores then went cold in overtime by missing their first three field goals. Emmanuel Bandoumel’s three-point play with 2:18 to play gave SMU an 84-78 lead.
Vandy didn’t have a comeback left in the tank after that.
Freshman Scotty Pippen scored 15 and had six assists for the Dores who were out-rebounded 41-29 and outscored 44-20 in the paint.
Vanderbilt next heads to Auburn (13-0, 1-0 SEC) at 8 p.m. Wednesday to begin SEC action.
The Mustangs took advantage of Vanderbilt’s slow start from the field in the first half by jumping out to a 12-5 lead. Ethan Chargois had 10 of those 12 points, including a 3 from the left wing that gave SMU its seven-point lead.
Down 19-8, Vandy put together a 10-0 run thanks to an alley-cop from Saben Lee to Maxwell Evans, a Lee 3 and an Evans layup on the fastbreak. Kendric Davis and Bandoumel answered, respectively, a few moments later with a pair of 3s making it 29-21 and then Jolly’s layup extended the margin to 31-21.
Once again the Commodores put together a spurt of their own and got within 33-31 on a Nesmith right-corner 3. Nesmith’s fifth and final 3 of the half knotted the score at 40 going into the break.
The Commodores made nine triples in the first 20 minutes.
This is how the Commodores tied the game just before the half – Nesmith with 15 on 5 of 10 shooting (all five makes were 3s) pic.twitter.com/0THlQ4bore
— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) January 5, 2020
Vandy came out firing in the second half and got four straight from Ejike Obinna to get ahead 49-47 before Nesmith’s sixth 3 of the game made it 52-47. A seventh triple from Nesmith pushed the home team’s margin to 55-47.
Pippen’s 3 from the right corner on the next possession pushed the score to 58-47 and polished off a 13-0 run.
The Mustangs crept within three a few minutes later, but a Pippen 3 and a Matthew Moyer slam off a Lee assist stretch the margin back out to 65-57. Then, with 6 1/2 minutes to go, Nesmith’s eighth 3 of the night made it 72-57.
Vandy went more than five minutes without a made field goal from there and that allowed SMU (11-2) to creep back in to the contest. They took full advantage.
Davis had 24 for the Mustangs while Jolly finished with 21.
• Vanderbilt now leads the series with SMU 14-7 and is 10-1 in games played at Vanderbilt.
• Nesmith and Lee had scored in double figures in every game this season before Saturday.
• Lee now needs 51 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Vanderbilt has now made at least one 3 in 1,077 straight games.
• SMU coach Tim Jankovich was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt from 2000-02.
• Attendance on Monday was announced as 9,141 giving Vanderbilt a season average of 8,775 through 11 home games.
