Vanderbilt rallies from 10 down, beats No. 15 Arkansas 97-84

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The VanderbiltCommodores leaned on their experience and trust in coach JerryStackhouse after an emotional end to a very chippy first half thatled to an ejection of a teammate.

The result? A very big comeback.

Tyrin Lawrence scored 22 points as Vanderbilt rallied from a10-point deficit in the second half and beat No. 15 Arkansas 97-84on Saturday to snap a two-game skid. The Commodores outscoredArkansas 63-42 after halftime.

“In that second half, they did exactly what we’ve been talkingabout,” Stackhouse said. “They led by example. No rah rah. Nothingbut going out there and executing and being the veteran team thatwe are and playing like the veteran players that they did. I mean,it was on them. They they just competed.”

Vanderbilt (9-8, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) trailed 50-40before the 3s started falling, and Jordan Wright’s 3 put Vandyahead to stay up 59-56 with 12:40 left.

The Commodores kept scoring for a 33-9 run and a 73-59 lead with7:43 left on a pair of free throws by Liam Robbins. The fifth-yearforward scored all 14 of his points in the second half afterplaying only a minute in the first half with two fouls.

Arkansas (12-5, 1-4) lost its third straight and never gotcloser than seven down the stretch as the Commodores knocked downall 12 free throws in the final 1:57.

“I just think we got a lot of guys still trying to figure outhow to win on the road, how to win in conference,” Arkansas coachEric Musselman said. “I mean, I’ve coached a lot of games and Ican’t remember a defensive team giving up 63 points in a half.”

Wright finished with 17 points for Vanderbilt. The senior alsohelped limit Arkansas freshman Anthony Black to three of his 18points in the second half.

“We put him on the best guy all the time,” Robbins said ofWright. “We trust him with everything on defense when he’s guardingtheir guy, they get flustered, they get out of sorts. And we’reable to go out in transition run. It all starts with him. He’s ourleader. He’s our catalyst and we won because of him.”

Myles Stute had 15, and Trey Thomas added 13 in a chippy gamethat featured three reviews with a Flagrant 1 for Arkansas andVanderbilt guard Ezra Manjon ejected before halftime.

Ricky Council IV led the Razorbacks with 24 points. DavonteDavis had 17 and Makhi Mitchell finished with 11.

BIG PICTURE

Arkansas is used to slow starts in league play starting 1-3 eachof the past two years only to finish in the Elite Eight of the NCAATournament. But the Razorbacks needed this win badly. This is theirthird of four road games to start the SEC slate, and they finishwith two of their final three on the road at Alabama andTennessee.

Vanderbilt had come close, losing by three at then-No. 20Missouri and by nine at No. 5 Tennessee on Wednesday night. TheCommodores showed just how dangerous they can be when their 3-pointshot falls. ... The Commodores beat Arkansas in back-to-back gamesfor the first time since March 2013 after losing 11 of the previous13 in this series.

The Commodores now are 1-2 against ranked teams this season.Stackhouse now is 3-16 against Top 25 teams in his fourth season,and this was Vanderbilt’s first win over a Top 15 opponent sinceFeb. 4, 2016, against No. 8 Texas A&M.

EJECTION AND TECHNICALS

Manjon was immediately ejected by official Doug Shows with 49.8seconds left for pushing Black as he tried to step over QuentinMillora-Brown. A review upheld the Flagrant 2 for Manjon.Stackhouse drew a technical before tossing his clipboard and latersaid he didn’t think Manjon deserved to be ejected.

Black hit his free throw for his three-point play, then Councilhit four of six free throws off the Vandy technicals to pad a 42-34halftime lead.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

This loss coming on the heels of back-to-back losses by doubledigits definitely will drop the Razorbacks.

UP NEXT

Arkansas: Visits Missouri on Wednesday night.

Vanderbilt: Hosts No. 4 Alabama on Tuesday night.