Tigers' Effort Falls Short in 83-74 Loss
to #17 Vanderbilt
Tennessee State University (3-7) gave
a tremendous team effort against #17 ranked Vanderbilt University (11-0), but
their effort came up short, 83-74, at the Commodore's Memorial Gym in
Nashville.
TSU freshman Gerald Robinson, Jr.
led all scorers with 24 points (22 in the second half) with support from teammates
Bruce Price and Jerrell Houston, hitting 19 and 11 points respectively.
In the first half, the Tigers
opened the game scoring at 18:52 on a jumper by Bruce Price but Vanderbilt answered
with a dunk by A.J. Olgivie (18:45) for
a 2-2 tie. The two teams traded leads and ties (3) until TSU forged ahead for
five-point leads at 20-15 (11:15) and 24-19 (9:27). Vanderbilt fought back to
tie the game at 30-30 (4:06) and a one-point lead at 3:28 (31-30). The Tigers
regained the lead 35-31 (1:07) and held a 35-33 lead at intermission.
TSU shot 41.9% (13-31) from the
floor in the first half, while VU shot 37.9% (11-29) in the period.
In the second half, Gerald
Robinson scored the Tigers' first 20 points of the period to push TSU up by
eight points (55-47) with 12:29 remaining in the game. LaDarious Weaver's
3-pointer at 11:51 put the Tigers up by nine points (58-47). Vanderbilt, behind
timely 3-point shots by Shan Foster chipped away at the Tigers' lead until they
forged a tie at 60-60 (8:33). TSU fought back to a tie at 65-65 (7:02), but the
Commodores weathered the TSU attack and built as much as a ten-point lead 83-73
with 0:22 remaining. Bruce Price hit 1-of-2 FT's with 0:17 remaining for the
final score of 83-74.
Four Vanderbilt players finished
in double-figures, Shan Foster (22), Alex Gordon (16), A.J. Ogilvy (14) and
Jermaine Beal (12). Foster finished with a game-high 15 rebounds for a double-double.
TSU was outrebounded 44-30, but
forced 21 turnovers by VU. Bruce Price was credited with five steals with two
assists.
On the game TSU shot 43.1% from
the floor, 44% in the second half (15-34) and Vanderbilt hit 47.3% from the
floor, 57.7% (15-26) in the second half.
The Tigers next game will be
December 30th at the University of Illinois. Tip-off is scheduled
for 1:00p.
