A.J. Ogilvy poured in a career-high 27 points and grabbed five rebounds to help 18th-ranked Vanderbilt to a 93-82 victory over Auburn in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Shan Foster added 26 points while Alex Gordon donated 14 and Ross Neltner ended with 10 for the Commodores (26-6), who will play Arkansas in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
“I thought our team did a good job of moving the ball and being patient with it and getting it inside,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. “I thought our guys really bought into the game plan and executed it very well.”
Rasheem Barrett had 20 points while Frank Tolbert added 17 for the Tigers (14-16), who closed out their season with five consecutive losses. Lucas Hargrove donated 16 points and eight boards in defeat.
The kids battled hard, but their two big guys really hurt us in this game,” said Auburn coach Jeff Lebo. “Offensively it wasn’t an issue for us, it was just having a hard time stopping them on the other end.”
Trailing by 11 points to start the second half, Auburn later cut its deficit to six on a layup from Quantez Robertson about 3 1/2 minutes in.
Vanderbilt, while holding a five-point edge after Hargrove drained a three at the other end with 11:35 to play, scored 10 unanswered points and held a 71-56 lead on a pair of free throws from Gordon with 8:20 remaining.
Auburn was able to get back to within 10 points on a Barrett slam with a bit over three minutes to play, but the team couldn’t pull any closer as Vanderbilt held on for the win.
Ogily scored the first six points of the game and Foster’s three-pointer later helped the Commodores take a 17-6 lead a little less than five minutes in.
The Tigers bounced back and cut their deficit to four points, 21-17, on Quan Prowell’s three-pointer with 12:52 left in the first half.
Vanderbilt later reeled off nine consecutive points, however, with Ogilvy netting the last four. That made it 35-22, and the team eventually took a 47-36 advantage into the locker room.
