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Open Mic Night at Bogie's in North Little Rock hosted by Stacy Mackey
Overcoming a five-point deficit in the final 15 seconds might not have been as impressive as what the Volunteers did in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.
Tenth-seeded Tennessee finished the game on a 20-2 run to turn a 12-point deficit with seven minutes left into a 67-61 victory against the seventh-seeded Commodores, who entered the first SEC tournament matchup between the two in-state rivals since 1987 on a five-game winning streak.
Robert Hubbs, who banked in the tying shot at the buzzer of the Vols' eventual 76-73 overtime win at Vanderbilt in February, hit the go-ahead 3 with a little more than two minutes left as Tennessee (16-15) made one final rally after the Commodores (19-13) led the game for more than 34 minutes.
Josh Richardson led the Vols with 20 points, and Damian Jones had 20 points and 15 rebounds for Vanderbilt.
Hubbs tied his career-high with 16 points.
After leading by six at halftime, the Commodores scored the first six points of the second half and took its largest lead of 13 points (47-34) on a Jones layup after he wrestled the ball away from Tennessee freshman Willie Carmichael.
That's when Richardson dragged his team back into the game.
He scored 11 points in the first eight minutes of the second half and brought the Vols to within two by completing an 11-0 run with two free throws that made it 47-45 with 12:18 ago.
Vanderbilt had the answer, though, and went on a 12-2 run to retake its comfortable lead thanks to two jumpers and a putback by Jones and 3s from Wade Baldwin and Matthew Fisher-Davis.
The Vols had one more run left, as Robert Hubbs, Kevin Punter and Derek Reese hit three consecutive 3-pointers, and Hubbs tied the game at 59 with a layup.
Vanderbilt hit its first 3 just 12 seconds into the game and ran out to a 16-9 lead on a runner by Riley LaChance, the SEC All-Freshman selection who scored just 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting in the two regular-season games against the Vols.
Tennessee took its first lead of the game at 18-16 when Derek Reese hit a jumper with 10:37 left in the first half to cap a 9-0 run that included five of Devon Baulkman's 10 first-half points.
It was the first time the first-year junior-college transfer reached double figures since scoring 10 at Mississippi State in Tennessee's SEC opener.
The Vols didn't score for the next 5:33, however, and Vanderbilt scored the next 11 points.
The Commodores extended their lead to 11 points (36-25) on Jones's third thunderous dunk of the first half, but Richardson slammed after stealing the ball near midcourt and Robert Hubbs hit two jumpers, including a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer, to leave Tennessee with a 38-32 halftime deficit.