Ven-Allen Lubin had 14 points and 10 rebounds, leading host Vanderbilt to a 78-59 win over Alabama A&M in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday.
Tyrin Lawrence (19 points), Ezra Manjon (12), Jason Rivera-Torres (10) and Evan Taylor (10) all scored in double figures for Vanderbilt. Manjon had a game-high seven assists.
The win snapped Vanderbilt’s three-game losing streak.
Alabama A&M was 19 of 20 from the foul line but the Bulldogs committed 26 fouls, allowing Vanderbilt to convert 24-of-34 opportunities from the foul line.
Omari Peek (13), EJ Williams (12) and Dailin Smith (11) led the Bulldogs (1-6) in scoring.
The Commodores took their first double-digit lead of the second half at 52-42 on the second of Rivera-Torres’s two foul shots with 13:28 left.
Carter Lang’s fast-break dunk off an A&M turnover with 6:02 left gave Vanderbilt a 66-51 lead, its largest of the game to that point. A Lawrence 3-pointer 38 seconds later made the lead 18.
Lubin’s free throws with 2:32 remaining gave Vanderbilt its first 20-point lead at 76-55.
Alabama A&M shot just 28.6 percent from the floor and had seven players draw two fouls in the first half, which resulted in the Bulldogs playing 14 men in the first period.
Still, Vanderbilt’s lead was just 36-29 at the break.
Vanderbilt took its first lead on Taylor’s 3 with 14:55 left in the first half.
Taylor’s free throws with 4:13 left and then again with 3:31 remaining in the half gave Vanderbilt its first double-digit lead.
The Bulldogs snapped a field-goal drought of 6:39 on Jayland Randall’s lay-up with 1:47 remaining before Peek hit a jumper and a buzzer-beating 3 in the final minute to cut the margin to seven.
The Commodores played without Colin Smith, the team’s leading rebounder who was hurt in a Nov. 23 game with North Carolina State and hasn’t played since.
–Field Level Media
