No. 22 Vanderbilt routs No. 12 Tennessee
February 10, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Jeffery Taylor scored 16 of his career-high 26 points inthe first half, and No. 22 Vanderbilt never trailed Tuesday night in routing No.12 Tennessee 90-71.
The Commodores (18-5, 7-2) grabbed sole possession of second place in theSoutheastern Conference’s Eastern Division, one loss behind No. 3 Kentucky. Theyalso swept the season series against their instate rival for the first timesince 2004-05—the season before coach Bruce Pearl took over Tennessee.
Tennessee (18-5, 6-3) had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Jermaine Beal scored 20 points and A.J. Ogilvy had 11 for Vanderbilt, whichdidn’t miss reserve John Jenkins. The freshman who had been averaging 10.4points was hospitalized with flu.
J.P. Prince led Tennessee with 19 points, Wayne Chism had 16, Melvin Goins11 and Scotty Hopson 10. Brian Williams, suspended for nine games after a NewYear’s Day arrest, returned to the rotation but didn’t enter the game until13:34 was left and the game well in the Commodores’ control.
The Commodores needed this game, the first of five of six in Memorial Gym,and they were coming off an ugly 72-58 loss at Georgia.
They beat Tennessee 85-76 in Knoxville on Jan. 27, and they never letTennessee get started in the Vols’ visit to Music City as they won for the thirdtime in four games in this series. They improved to a perfect 12-0 at home thisseason, 17 straight dating to a Jan. 25, 2009, loss to Florida.
The Commodores scored the first six points and led 44-27 at halftime. Theyhit eight of their first 11 shots as Tennessee missed 14 of its first 17 andeventually led by as many as 27 points twice.
The Volunteers got as close as 10 points early in the second half as Princescored to pull them within 46-36. He missed the free throw and the chance to cutthe lead to single digits for the first time since the opening minutes.
Vanderbilt responded with a 20-3 run to put the game away, and Festus Ezelicapped the spurt with two free throws with 12:38 left that gave the Commodorestheir biggest lead yet at 66-39. The sellout crowd taunted the Vols late bychanting “Lane Kiffin”—the name of the football coach that bolted Tennesseefor Southern California last month.
Taylor hadn’t scored more than 10 points in a game since Jan. 23 againstAuburn. He couldn’t miss against Tennessee as the sophomore was 4 of 5 from thefield and perfect on all eight free throws for his most points in the first halfsince 13 against Missouri on Dec. 2.
Pearl, wearing his orange blazer for the rivalry, drew a technical foul at12:14. It was just a blip as Vanderbilt eventually pushed its lead to as many as20 when Taylor hit two free throws to make it 30-10 with 8:46 remaining.
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