NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Luke Kornet scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Vanderbilt rallied from an 11-point deficit in beating Texas A&M 72-67 Thursday night.
With the win, the Commodores (13-13, 6-7) snapped a four-game home skid in Southeastern Conference play. They also swept the Aggies after winning at Texas A&M 68-54 on Jan. 31.
Vanderbilt used its 3-point shooting prowess as the SEC’s best team outside the arc to overcome the Aggies’ dominance inside the paint.
Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 14 points off the bench for Vanderbilt, and Joe Toye tied his career-high with 13. Riley LaChance finished with 12.
Texas A&M (13-12, 5-8) announced before tipoff that sophomore guard DJ Hogg will miss the rest of the season with an injured foot. Tyler Davis scored 25 points, and Robert Williams added 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Aggies outscored Vanderbilt 42-22 inside the paint.
Admon Gilder added 14 points for the Aggies, and Tonny Trocha-Morelos had 10.
Vanderbilt led 35-34 at halftime but never pushed that past five in the second half. The Aggies last led 55-54 with 9:12 left on Davis’ final bucket of the game, though Trocha-Morales tied it at 65 with 4:17 to go on back-to-back buckets. They didn’t hit another field goal.
Fisher-Davis hit a jumper with 3:48 left to put Vandy ahead to stay. Kornet got his season-high fifth block on Gilder’s layup with 47 seconds left, and LaChance hit a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds left to seal the win.
Texas A&M scored 11 straight to take an early lead and last led 21-10 nearly midway through the first half. Then Vanderbilt started knocking down 3s, hitting six of the next seven with Roberson’s 3 with 5:18 giving the Commodores a 28-27 lead with 5:18 left. Vanderbilt took a 35-34 lead into halftime.
BIG PICTURE
Texas A&M: Coach Billy Kennedy announced before tipoff that the Aggies would be sophomore guard DJ Hogg the rest of the season because of an injured foot. Hogg hurt his foot in a win over Georgia on Jan. 21, missed the next two games and played in the last four. Hogg had been averaging 12 points a game.
Vanderbilt: The Commodores needed this game badly after splitting a two-game road trip and coming off a 72-52 loss at Missouri on Feb. 11. This is the first of three of the next four at Memorial Gym where they came in just 1-4 in league play losing their last four. This also marked the 1,000th game for the men at Memorial, the SEC’s oldest basketball facility.
UP NEXT:
Texas A&M: Hosts Auburn on Saturday afternoon.
Vanderbilt: Hosts No. 21 South Carolina on Saturday night.
