NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Memorial Gym has seen a lot of 3-pointers during the last 30 years, but never a night like this.
Vanderbilt broke a school record with 19 3-pointers and combined with High Point for a school record 31 3-pointers in a 90-63 win over the Panthers on Tuesday night.
Vanderbilt (5-4) made 19 of 32 from 3-point range. The old school record was 18 3-pointers in an 88-63 win at Tennessee in 2005.
High Point (4-5) went 12 for 15 from beyond the arc.
”I thought it was a tremendous shooting display by both teams and I don’t know if that’s because both teams were just really, really good shooters or there were a lot of breakdowns on the defensive end tonight,” Commodores coach Bryce Drew said. ”I think a lot of credit tonight with them making shots was the unselfishness. We had 23 assists on 29 field goals.”
Vanderbilt, the SEC’s top 3-point shooting team, has made a 3-pointer in all 973 of its games since the inception of the 3-point line in 1986. Only UNLV has a longer streak in Division I basketball.
Matthew Fisher-Davis led the Commodores 19 points, including four 3-pointers.
Riley LaChance tied the record with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 7 minutes left and Joe Toye’s 3-pointer from the corner with 1:26 left broke the record. LaChance scored 14 points, including four 3s.
”I think guys were doing a good job of getting other guys open,” LaChance said. ”We had a lot of good looks from 3.”
Vanderbilt’s Jeff Roberson scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers, Payton Willis added 13 points with three 3-pointers and Nolan Cressler scored 10.
”We weren’t aware of any of the records,” Cressler said. ”We were just kind of out there playing. Me and Riley were on the bench and the announcer said something about new Vanderbilt record, 19 3s or whatever. So it’s kind of cool to be in the record books.”
LaChance entered the game with the Southeastern Conference’s second-leading 3-point percentage (67.9).
”They’re a pretty elite 3-point shooting team,” Panthers coach Scott Cherry said. ”They move the ball around and stretch the floor. At one point they had five guards out there and we don’t have good length on the perimeter.”
Miles Bowman Jr. led High Point with 22 points, Jamal Wright had 12 and Anthony Lindauer added 11.
Bowman scored High Point’s first 10 points, leading the Panthers to a 13-6 advantage early in the first half. Vanderbilt answered with an 11-0 run to take a 17-13 lead.
”Just seeing the ball go through the hoop like that constantly and consistently doesn’t give you much of a chance to rebound,” Bowman said. ”And you don’t get a chance to run the ball in transition. It was kind of crazy.”
The Commodores made 12 of their first 19 shots from 3-point range to take a 50-42 halftime lead. High Point was nearly as good, hitting eight of its first nine.
Vanderbilt improved to 13-0 against the Big South Conference.
BIG PICTURE
High Point: The Panthers’ 3-point shooters were almost as productive as the Commodores, but Vanderbilt pulled away in the second half.
Vanderbilt: The Commodores’ 3-point shooting is as good as it gets, but they’re still searching for consistency in their overall game.
PANTHER DROUGHT
High Point went over 13 minutes without a basket in the second half, turning an 11-point deficit into a 30-poiint gap. Vanderbilt scored 33 points off turnovers in the game. ”That’s been the story of our season,” Cherry said. ”Dead spots like that. We go stretches without scoring.”
UP NEXT
High Point hosts Ferrum on Sunday to start a two-game home stand.
Vanderbilt visits Middle Tennessee on Thursday before a nine-day break.
