Santiago Vescovi scored 14 points, including two late free throws in a close game, and Uros Plavsic had two key offensive rebounds and putbacks down the stretch, leading No. 24 Tennessee to a 68-60 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Nashville, Tenn.
The Volunteers (12-5, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) left Memorial Gymnasium with their ninth straight win over the Commodores (10-7, 2-3) in the head-to-head series. Vanderbilt committed 21 turnovers in the game.
Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr. led all scorers with 18 points, and Jordan Wright added 15.
The game was tied 60-60 with a minute to go before Tennessee scored the final eight points.
Neither team led by more than four points until Plavsic spun to the basket, got his own rebound on a miss and put in the follow for a 50-45 Volunteers lead with 7:41 to play. That was part of a 7-2 run late in the game that turned the tide in the direction of Tennessee.
Shoves were exchanged with 6:07 to play after a hard foul on Tennessee, resulting in technical fouls on both teams. But the Volunteers didn’t falter, even after Vanderbilt came back from an eight-point deficit to tie the score.
Vanderbilt cut a seven-point lead to 55-51, but Tennessee’s Kennedy Chandler drove the lane and scooped in a layup while being fouled with 4:14 left. And when Plavsic gave the Vols a 60-52 lead, with 3:41 to play with a hook shot, things looked bleak for the home team.
But Trey Thomas hit a corner trey with 2:21 left, cutting Tennessee’s lead to 60-57.
Then Vanderbilt forced a turnover with 1:45 left, and Pippen Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:22 left. But Plavsic put in the rebound of a missed shot, and Zakai Zeigler and Vescovi combined for six throws with less than a minute to go to seal Tennessee’s win.
Tennessee led 33-32 at halftime. The Commodores dropped to 6-6 on their home floor this season.
–Field Level Media
