The Vanderbilt Commodores (5-12, 0-4) lost their fourth consecutive game on Wednesday night, at the hands of a 80-65 defeat to the No. 13 Auburn Tigers (15-2,4-0). The Commodores were dominated by senior Jaylin Williams, who scored 21 points and made all seven of his attempts from the field.
Jerry Stackhouse started Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Malik Presley, JQ Roberts and Ven-Allen Lubin. Freshman Jason Rivera-Torres played the role as the sixth man and scored 14 points. Lawrence led the Commodores in scoring with 15 points.
Auburn came out of the gates firing and led Vanderbilt 7-0 with less than three minutes elapsed in the first half. Ezra Manjon struck first for Vanderbilt with a pull-up 2-point jumper that was followed by a 3-pointer from Tyrin Lawrence. Auburn’s Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams scored the next four points for Auburn. Before the first media timeout, Ven-Allen Lubin knocked in a second-chance layup from the paint to put Vanderbilt down Auburn 12-7 with 14:23 remaining in the first half.
A few moments later, after Vanderbilt and Auburn exchanged points, Lawrence evened the game at 14 apiece when he followed Auburn’s Dylan Cardwell’s dunk with a 3-pointer. Manjon followed that up with a driving layup to give Vanderbilt its first and only lead of the night with 12:32 remaining in the first half. After that, Auburn went on a 20-2 run which was capped off by two made free throws from Williams and a driving layup from by Aiden Halloway. Vanderbilt went on a dry spell that lasted four minutes during Auburn’s momentous run. During those four minutes, Paul Lewis missed three consecutive free throws.
“There was a ten-minute stretch there where we got looks at the basket and it just didn’t go in for us,” Stackhouse said. “We even got fouled on a 3-point shot, went to the line and was not able to convert.”
Vanderbilt now trailed Auburn 34-18 with 6:05 left in the first half after allowing Auburn to go on what would become a game-defining scoring run. While the Tigers made only one of their last eight field goal attempts, the Commodores were unable to capitalize and trailed Auburn by 19 points with seven seconds left before halftime. Right before the buzzer sounded, Manjon briefly enlivened Memorial Gymnasium with a stepback jumper to put Vanderbilt down Auburn 41-24 at the halftime break. In the first half, Vanderbilt allowed Auburn to shoot 41.7% from the 3-point line, while Vanderbilt went 18.2% from the 3-point line.
Presley scored the first points of the second half with a layup to put Vanderbilt down 15 points with just under one minute elapsed in the period. Auburn’s Williams struck back with a 2-pointer of his own, which was then followed by a 3-pointer from Presley 90 seconds into the first half.
Just over seven minutes later, Vanderbilt’s deficit grew to 20 points and it trailed Auburn 58-38 with 11:32 remaining in the game. Isaiah West scored his first points of the night soon after, knocking in a driving layup on Vanderbilt’s next possession. West played in his first-ever SEC game on Wednesday, as he had been sidelined with an injury since Dec. 23 before Wednesday evening.
Halfway through the second half, Cardwell capitalized on a Vanderbilt turnover with a slam dunk at the ten minute mark that proved to be the nail in the coffin. Vanderbilt was unable to get close to Auburn as every time the Commodores attempted to go on a run, Auburn punched right back.
The Commodores outscored the Tigers 41-39 in the second half. While Rivera-Torres and Presley combined for 23 second half points, it was not nearly enough to help Vanderbilt mount a comeback.
“I thought Malik [Presley] did some really good things for us,” Stackhouse said. “He’s a good defender. We don’t have to bring help as quick as we do with some other guys.”
The Commodores will look to avoid their fifth consecutive loss when they play the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday at 2:30 p.m in Starkville, Miss. Vanderbilt beat Mississippi State 77-72 in their most recent meeting.
“There’s no rest for the weary in this league,” Stackhouse said. “Tolu Smith has been dominant in this league for a long time. He knows his strengths.”
