Though Auburn (10-10, 1-4 SEC) had a 16-point lead just before the half, Vanderbilt (15-3, 4-0 SEC) came out on top in Saturday's matchup, defeating the Tigers 82-74.
The Commodores had a strong second half, shooting 64 percent from the field.
Senior Lucas Hargrove led the Ti- gers with 19 points and 10 rebounds on the night, while senior DeWayne Reed had 16 points and sophomore Frankie Sullivan 14.
Hargrove opened the second half strong, putting Auburn up 45- 32 with a steal and a dunk. But the Commodores answered with an 11-2 run, putting them within four.
Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym was sold out, helping the Commodores
change the momentum and regain the lead with 11:36 remaining. Van- derbilt's John Jenkins hit a 24-foot 3-pointer, making the score 55-53, capping off an 18-point turnaround.
Auburn did not regain the lead.
With Vanderbilt up by five, Sulli- van was charged with a foul which negated his layup that would have brought the Tigers within one score of the lead.
The Commodores scored six straight points to push their lead to nine with 4:32 to play.
Auburn did not come within eight points for the remainder of the game. Head coach Jeff Lebo said Vander-
bilt played well in the second half. "They scored a high clip in the sec- ond half and got some easy buckets and kind of wore us down a little bit,"
Lebo said. The Tigers opened the game well,
Hargrove said.
"We got off to a really good start," Hargrove said. "We knew they were a great team and were going to make a run in the second half, and we tried to poise ourselves and the younger players."
Lebo said he too thought the team started the game well.
"I loved the way we played to start the game in the first half," Lebo said. "I thought we moved the ball well. We shot the ball well. We got high percentage looks. We defended pret- ty well."
Auburn's next game is tonight against No. 22 Ole Miss at 8 p.m. at home. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
The Rebels are 15-4 on the season, 3-2 in the SEC and 3-2 on the road. Mississippi beat LSU on the road Saturday, though its leading scorer Chris Warren suffered a deep thigh bruise prior to the game.
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