Men's Basketball Grabs Crucial Road Win in Nashville

Saturday, February 24

Nashville, Tenn.

3 p.m.

Texas A&M

18-11, 7-9SEC

Vanderbilt

11-18, 5-11SEC

Texas A&M

Vanderbilt

Feb 24, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tyler Davis scored 22 points, T.J. Starks had 18 and Texas A&M ended its three-game losing streak with an 89-81 win at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Texas A&M built a 24-point lead in the second half before Vanderbilt narrowed the gap to four in the final minute.

The Aggies enjoyed one of their best shooting games of the season with a 59 percent clip from the floor. The Aggies (18-11, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) used their height advantage to outscore the Commodores 38-26 in the paint.

D.J. Hogg scored 16 points and Admon Gilder had 11 for Texas A&M, which won its first game in five tries at Memorial Gym.

Riley LaChance led last-place Vanderbilt (11-18, 5-11) with 23 points after a slow start. He made six 3-pointers and Jeff Roberson added 21 points.

The loss ended the Commodores' five-game home winning streak.

Vanderbilt freshman Saben Lee almost had a triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

The Commodores made 14 of 29 from 3-point range.

Texas A&M outscored Vanderbilt 15-2 in second-chance points.

Vanderbilt's 6-foot-10 Djery Baptiste missed his second straight game with a foot injury.

The Aggies, who made a 17-4 lead early in the first half, took a 43-31 halftime lead.

Senior Tonny Trocha-Morelos became the 27th Aggie to reach the 500 career rebounds milestone by grabbing six against the Commodores.

RECORDS / SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday by defeating Vanderbilt 89-81 at Memorial Gym in Nashville … the victory improved A&M's record on the season to 18-11 with a 7-9 mark in SEC play.
The win also gave Texas A&M its first-ever victory inside Memorial Gym (1-4) and cut Vandy's lead in the all-time series down to 8-3.

TEAM NOTES

Texas A&M scored over 80 points for the 12^th time this season as well as the sixth time in the team's last eight games.
The Aggies shot an impressive 58.8 percent from the field, their second-highest percentage in a game this season (61.1 percent vs. Penn State on Nov. 11).
A&M's second half lead swelled to as many as 24 with 6:52 to play but the Commodores made a late push that whittled the advantage down to just four on two occasions (:35 and :22) … A&M converted its last eight attempts from the free throw line in the game's final 35 seconds to seal the win with both Admon Gilder and DJ Hogg each going 4-of-4.
A&M used the starting lineup combination of TJ Starks, Admon Gilder, DJ Hogg, Robert Williams and Tyler Davis for the ninth time this season (5-4).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Junior Tyler Davis scored a team-high 22 points to register his 12^th career 20-point win (sixth this season) … Davis fell just one rebound short of his 17^th career double-double, grabbing a game-high nine boards.
Davis was joined in double-figure scoring by TJ Starks(18 points), DJ Hogg (16) and Admon Gilder (11).
Starks dished out a career-best six assists in the win.
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy improved to 133-96 during his seven-year tenure at Texas A&M and 344-275 in 20 seasons as a head coach.

UP NEXT

The Aggies hit the road for the final time during the regular season, taking on Georgia in Athens on Wednesday ... The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. and be televised by SEC Network.