KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Jordan Bowden scored 19 points, Lamonte' Turner hit a huge three-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 SEC) earned its fifth victory in six games and withstood the performance of Vanderbilt's Riley LaChance, who scored all of his 25 points in the second half.
After trailing 41-21 with 14½ 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 three-pointer with 1:03 left.
LaChance missed a three-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.
MISSISSIPPI 78, ALABAMA 66
OXFORD, Miss. -- Deandre Burnett scored 24 points, Terence Davis and Markel Crawford both scored 15 points and Mississippi beat Alabama.
Ole Miss (11-9, 4-4 SEC) remained undefeated at home during conference play. Alabama (13-7, 5-3) had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Ole Miss led the entire second half, though its 41-31 halftime advantage was quickly cut to 43-42. The Rebels responded with a crucial 15-6 run to create some separation and pull away for the victory.
Alabama's star freshman Collin Sexton played 20 minutes after missing two consecutive games with an abdominal injury. He was mostly ineffective, shooting just 2 of 13 from the field.
The first half of the game featured wide swings in momentum with Ole Miss taking an early 18-9 lead.
Alabama responded with 18 consecutive points before Ole Miss came right back with 14 in a row. The Rebels ended the first half on a 23-4 run to take a 10-point lead by halftime.
Ole Miss' Burnett led all players with 16 points in the first half, making 6 of 8 shots from the field, including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
Alabama was led by Donta Hall's 14 points. Dazon Ingram scored 10 points.
LSU 77, TEXAS A&M 65
BATON ROUGE -- Duop Reath scored 21 points, Tremont Waters added 15 points and LSU snapped a three-game skid with a victory over Texas A&M.
One game after scoring 31 points in a loss at Vanderbilt, Reath made 9 of 14 shots and also grabbed 8 rebounds. He scored the game's first four points and helped LSU (12-7, 3-4 SEC) build an early double-digit lead in a wire-to-wire victory.
Waters also had nine assists and eight steals for LSU, and his highlights included two breakaway layups he created with steals and a three-pointer with the shot clock winding down from about 25 feet with a little more than two minutes remaining. Aaron Epps added 12 points for the Tigers, who won an SEC game at home for the first time in four tries.
Robert Williams had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Aggies (13-7, 2-6), who came in having won two consecutive, but now have lost six of eight.
KENTUCKY 78,
MISSISSIPPI STATE 65
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- PJ Washington had a career-high 22 points, Kevin Knox scored 19 points with four three-pointers and Kentucky pulled away late for a victory over Mississippi State to end a two-game losing streak.
A day after the Wildcats fell out of the top 25 for the first time since March 2014, Washington and Knox helped end their skid from the foul line and perimeter respectively. Washington made 10 of 14 free throws along with 6-of-10 shooting to top his previous best against Monmouth by two points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 16 points, including eight in the second half to help Kentucky (15-5, 5-3 SEC) eventually seize a back-and-forth game between teams coming off losses. The Wildcats shot 43 percent but made 23 of 30 free throws.
Quinndary Weatherspoon had 19 points and Nick Weatherspoon 10 for the Bulldogs (14-6, 2-5), who shot just 39 percent and were outrebounded 41-31 while losing their second consecutive SEC contest and fifth in sixth games.
Sports on 01/24/2018