KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Jordan Bowden scored 19 points, Lamonte’ Turner hit a huge 3-pointer and No. 22 Tennessee nearly blew a 20-point second-half lead before hanging on for a 67-62 victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
Tennessee (14-5, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) earned its fifth win in six games and withstood a brilliant performance from Vanderbilt’s Riley LaChance, who scored all of his 25 points in the second half.
After trailing 41-21 with 14 1/2 minutes left, Vanderbilt (7-13, 2-6) cut Tennessee’s lead to 60-58 when Jeff Roberson made one of two free-throw attempts with 1:19 remaining. Turner answered by sinking a 3-pointer with 1:03 left.
LaChance missed a 3-point attempt on Vanderbilt’s next possession to set up a layup by Bowden that extended Tennessee’s lead to 65-58 with 33 seconds left. Tennessee’s lead wouldn’t drop below five the rest of the way.
Grant Williams scored 19 points for Tennessee, two weeks after compiling 37 points in a 92-84 triumph at Vanderbilt. Roberson had 21 points for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt announced before the game that senior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis would miss the rest of the season with an injured right shoulder. Fisher-Davis has made 70 career starts and was averaging 11.9 points per game to rank second on the team.
The Commodores were seeking to beat Tennessee in Knoxville for a fourth straight season, but poor shooting nearly knocked Vanderbilt out of contention early.
Vanderbilt’s Payton Willis made a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the game to open the scoring, but the Commodores missed their next 17 3-point attempts. Tennessee closed the first half on a 14-2 run to grab a 32-15 halftime lead and then scored the first two points of the second half on a basket by Kyle Alexander.
Tennessee led 46-28 with 12 minutes remaining before LaChance got Vanderbilt back into the game almost single-handedly.
LaChance went 4 of 4 from 3-point range in a span of 2 1/2 minutes and ended up scoring 15 straight Vanderbilt points as the Commodores crept closer. Vanderbilt made eight consecutive shots at one point while Tennessee went over seven minutes without a basket.
BIG PICTURE
Vanderbilt: The Commodores showed plenty of fight to get back into the game on the night that they announced Fisher-Davis wouldn’t play again this year. But the first half also showed how hard it is for Vanderbilt to find offense when its 3-point shots aren’t falling. Vanderbilt fell to 1-2 since Fisher-Davis’ injury.
Tennessee: Bowen scored just two points in a loss at Missouri and went scoreless in a victory at South Carolina last week, but he broke out of his slump. Bowden shot 5 of 7 from 3-point range and 6 of 10 from the floor.
UP NEXT
Vanderbilt hosts TCU on Saturday.
Tennessee is at Iowa State on Saturday.
