University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
17-10, 9-7
Vanderbilt
10-17, 3-13
Tennessee Rallies For 70-65 Victory at Vanderbilt
March 08, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2003
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Ron Slay scored 22 points and Brandon Crump added 18 as Tennessee rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to beat Vanderbilt 70-65 Saturday night.
The Volunteers (17-10, 9-7 Southeastern Conference) won for the fourth time in five games in Nashville against their instate rival, and they had the added bonus of handing Vanderbilt (10-17, 3-13) its ninth straight loss.
The Commodores looked like a much different team than the one that lost by 62 points at Kentucky on Wednesday night and led most of Saturday's game.
But Tennessee, which plays Mississippi on Thursday in the opening game of the SEC tournament in New Orleans, desperately needed a victory to improve its NCAA tournament hopes. The Vols got their edge with a 12-1 run in a very streaky game.
Vanderbilt turned a 29-27 halftime lead into a 43-33 edge with a 14-6 spurt. The Vols struggled to keep up as Slay, the SEC's leading scorer averaging 21.6 points per game, picked up his fourth foul with 13:51 left.
Crump, who had a game-high 11 rebounds, took up the slack with a quick four points and later started a stretch of seven-straight scoring possessions for the Vols. Slay added a pair of free throws and a basket during the run. A C.J. Watson steal and dunk with 4:49 to play gave the Vols a 56-55 lead, their first since 4-0.
The Vols finished the game by hitting their final 12 free throws. They also improved to 6-0 when Crump scores at least 15. Thaydeus Holden added 12.
Matt Freije led Vanderbilt with 25.
The Commodores, who finished sixth in the SEC Eastern Division, trailed 4-0 when they went on a 22-4 run highlighted by two 3-pointers by Freije and one each from Scott Holwerda, Russell Lakey and Mario Moore. The last 3, by Moore, made it 22-8 with 9:33 to go.
Jon Higgins finally got the Volunteers going with a run.
His 3-pointer with 8:55 remaining was Tennessee's first basket since 13:40 and started a 14-7 spurt keyed by nine points from Slay. The Nashville, Tenn., native had plenty of support with the band from his old high school playing in the stands, and the crowd filled with plenty of Tennessee orange.
Watson capped the spurt with a basket as the buzzer ended with Vandy leading 29-27.
