ATHENS, Ga. -- The first half of Saturday's SEC game between Missouri and Georgia ended with Missouri leading 26-20, but a scuffle involving players and coaches ignited the crowd at Stegeman Coliseum, and the Bulldogs followed with a 71-66 victory.
Georgia outscored Missouri 11-2 and 12-0 at two different junctures in the second half in front of 8,600 fans who became raucous after Missouri assistant coach Steve Shields and Georgia's director of basketball operations Kent Davison had to be separated after players got tangled up in a scramble for a rebound.
Shields, the former UALR men's basketball head coach, and Davison were hit with nonsporting technicals, but Georgia drew on the emotion of the crowd..
Neither Georgia coach Mark Fox nor Missouri coach Kim Anderson had a lot to say about the brief scuffle under the Missouri basket, although Anderson said the Bulldogs' fans played a key role in Georgia's resurgence.
"I didn't see what started it and I tried to get in and .calm people down," Anderson said. "In the second half, we knew they'd make a run, which they did. I'm sure the run was fueled by what happened at the end of the first half. The crowd was great, but we withstood it and fought back. It tells me a lot about these guys."
All Fox would offer was praise for the crowd .
"Guys got tied up with the ball, but until I see the tape I won't (say anything)," he said. "Our crowd certainly lifted our team today."
Yante Maten scored 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (10-5, 2-1), who also got 16 points and 4 assists from J.J. Frazier, 12 points and 5 rebounds from Pape Diatta, and 11 points and 6 rebounds from Juwan Parker.
"There was a lot of energy in the building, on our team, the coaching staff, everywhere," Maten said. "It wasn't hard to really find energy to play the game. Sometimes you got to get yourself riled up, but everybody was really riled up at that point during the second half."
Terrence Phillips scored 20 points, Jordan Barnett had 15, and K.J. Walton added 13 for Missouri (5-9, 0-2).
Georgia won for the fifth time in its last seven games. Missouri has lost six consecutive and six in a row to Georgia. Their last victory over the Bulldogs came on Jan. 15, 2013, when they won 79-62 in Columbia.
NO. 24 FLORIDA 83,
TENNESSEE 70
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida (12-3, 3-0) pulled away from a 56-56 tie with 8:57 left when KeVaughn Allen (North Little Rock) connected on three of his four second-half 3s in a span of 3:13. He went on to score 23 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 steals in front of a crowd of 10,843.
Senior Justin Leon had 19 points and made two 3-pointers early in the second half that helped to erase the Vols' 33-32 halftime lead. Tennessee (8-7, 1-2) badgered Florida with aggressive defense, smart shots and tenaciousness on the boards in the first half despite being outsized almost all the way across the board.
The Vols led by as many as six in the first half as forward Admiral Schofield (18 points, 10 rebounds) and guard Jordan Bowden (15 points, three steals) provided a strong inside-out combination that frustrated Florida into nine first-half turnovers and a .375 shooting percentage.
Tennessee finished with 19 turnovers and faded after Schofield and another forward, Grant Williams, fouled out late in the game.
"They had depth, we didn't," coach Rick Barnes said. "We'll learn from it. I like my team a lot. We've got a group of guys that are going to battle."
Schofield said the Vols didn't have a counter left in the second half.
MISSISSIPPI 88,
AUBURN 85
AUBURN, Ala. -- Rasheed Brooks hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 39 seconds left, and Deandre Burnett went 4 for 4 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds to help Ole Miss outlast Auburn.
Terence Davis went 1 for 2 from the foul line to give Ole Miss (10-5, 1-2 SEC) its three-point lead with 12 seconds remaining. Auburn (10-5, 0-3) then took a timeout with 3.9 seconds left before inbounding to T.J. Lang, whose three-point attempt from the right wing glanced off the front of the rim as time soon expired.
Burnett had 18 points and eight assists, and Davis had 16 points. Auburn's Jared Harper scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half. Mustapha Heron added 20 points for the Tigers.
Auburn took a 41-33 lead into halftime, shooting 50 percent from the field to Ole Miss' 42.9 percent and outrebounding the Rebels 19-13.
ALABAMA 59,
VANDERBILT 56
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama junior Ar'Mond Davis came off of the bench to lead the Crimson Tide to a victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday night.
Davis scored all 12 of his points in the second half, shooting 50 percent from three-point range.
Vanderbilt (8-7, 2-1) broke away from a 30-30 halftime tie, outscored Alabama 12-0 on four unanswered three-pointers by Riley Lachance, Payton Willis, Nolan Cressler and Matthew Fisher-Davis to take a 42-30 lead.
Davis hit his third three-pointer to tie things back up, 49-49, with 8:44 remaining.
Luke Kornet led Vanderbilt with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Alabama (9-5, 2-0) led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Vanderbilt chipped away at the deficit to tie things up by halftime.
Both Dazon Ingram and Jimmie Taylor scored 10 points for Alabama. Cressler and Wills finished with 10 points for Vanderbilt.
Alabama score 36 of its points off of the bench.
SOUTH CAROLINA 79,
TEXAS A&M 68
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina used a late 14-2 run to defeat Texas A&M.
Sindarius Thornwell scored 11 of his 16 points in the final seven minutes after the Gamecocks fell behind 59-58.
Duane Notice had 19 points off four 3-pointers while Rakym Felder scored 19 off the bench to send the Gamecocks (12-3, 2-0) to their second straight 2-0 SEC start -- and the fourth in 26 years in the league.
LSU 95,
MISSISSIPPI STATE 78
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Aric Holman scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Mississippi State defeated LSU.
Holman was one of five players in double figures for the Bulldogs (10-4, 1-1), who took the lead for good around the midway point of the first half. Lamar Peters finished with 15 points, Quinndary Weatherspoon had 14, I.J. Ready 13 and Mario Kegler 11.
LSU (9-5, 1-2) never reduced its deficit to fewer than 13 points in the second half. Duop Reath led the Tigers with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Antonio Blakeney added 17 points and Skylar Mays 10.
Sports on 01/08/2017