Vanderbilt basketball survived an upset-minded McNeese State team to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 14 years.
The Commodores (27-8), the No. 5 seed in the South Region, opened March Madness with a 78-68 win over the No. 12 seed Cowboys (28-6) at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on March 19.
Vanderbilt trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half but went on a 37-16 run to take a double-digit lead early in the second half. The Commodores kept McNeese at arm’s length for the rest of the game behind a strong performance from Tyler Tanner, who led all scorers with 26 points.
Devin McGlockton, Duke Miles and Tyler Nickel were also in double figures scoring for Vanderbilt, which shot 51% from the field.
Garwey Dual scored 16 points to lead McNeese.
Vanderbilt will face No. 4 seed Nebraska (27-6) in the second round on March 21. Game time has yet to be announced.
Vanderbilt leads McNeese 68-60 with 3:19 remaining. Tyler Tanner has scored 22 points to lead all scorers, with 13 of them coming in the second half including a deep 3-pointer which put the Commodores up eight.
Vanderbilt has led all second half but McNeese won’t go away. After a 3-pointer cut the Commodores’ lead to one possession, Tyler Tanner answered with a three of his own to put Vanderbilt up 63-57 with 6:33 remaining.
Vanderbilt leads McNeese 52-46 with 11:57 left to play as it looks for its first NCAA Tournament win since 2012. Tyler Tanner has 12 points to lead the Commodores, including a key and-1 on a running layup.
Vanderbilt leads McNeese 45-42 at the under-16 media timeout of the second half after the Cowboys went on a 7-0 run. Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton are tied for the team high with 10 points each while the Commodores’ leading scorers, Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles, have nine and five points respectively.
Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner has hit just two of eight shots against McNeese so far but has nine points thanks to 4-of-5 free-throw shooting. He also has five assists as the Commodores lead 45-35 early in the second half.
Vanderbilt starts the second half on a 7-0 run in the first two minutes to take its largest lead of the game, 45-35, on a 3-pointer by Tyler Nickel.
Vanderbilt shot 14-of-27 (52%) from the field in the first half while holding McNeese to 14-of-38 (37%). The Commodores got off to a slow start due to turnovers, however: they gave the ball up eight times to the Cowboys’ three. Devin McGlockton leads Vanderbilt and all scorers with 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting. Tyshawn Archie and Larry Johnson both have nine points to lead McNeese.
After trailing for much of the first half, Vanderbilt came back to take a 38-35 lead over McNeese at halftime of its first-round NCAA Tournament game. The Commodores outscored the Cowboys by 14 points over the last 14 minutes of the half.
Vanderbilt came back to take its first lead since the opening minutes on Tyler Nickel’s 3-pointer, but McNeese went back on top 33-30 on Javohn Garcia’s three with 3:21 left in the first half.
McNeese has cooled off some but still leads Vanderbilt by six points with 6:48 to play until halftime. Larry Johnson and Garwey Dual both have seven points for the Cowboys, while Tyler Tanner leads the Commodores with seven.
McNeese has jumped to a 21-12 lead over Vanderbilt with 12 minutes to go before halftime. The Cowboys have forced five Commodore turnovers and are shooting 64% from the field.
Larry Johnson has hit a pair deep shots to help McNeese take a 12-5 lead over Vanderbilt, forcing Commodores coach Mark Byington to call a timeout at the 16-minute mark.
Vanderbilt and McNeese are just five minutes away from tipping off from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City in their first-round NCAA Tournament game.
No. 4 seed Nebraska beat No. 13 seed Troy 76-47 in the first game of the day in Oklahoma City, winning its first-ever NCAA Tournament game and advancing to the second round. The winner of Vanderbilt-McNeese will face the Huskers in the second round on Saturday.
Nebraska leads Troy 44-30 early in the second half of the early game in Oklahoma City. Vanderbilt or McNeese will play the Huskers if they hold on to win.
Vanderbilt is going with its normal starting lineup of Duke Miles and Tyler Tanner in the backcourt with Tyler Nickel, AK Okereke and Devin McGlockton at forward.
McNeese’s starting lineup: guard Javohn Garcia, guard Garwey Dual, guard Larry Johnson, guard Tyshawn Archie and forward Jerrell Colbert.
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