Being down 18 points in the second half certainly would result in a loss, right?
Wrong.

The No. 20 Vanderbilt men's basketball managed to become the first team in the country to 10 wins thanks to important contributions from role players Alan Metcalfe and Keegan Bell. The duo scored a combined 30 points as the undefeated Commodores rallied for a thrilling 91-85 overtime victory over DePaul in Chicago.

"They don't ask you how, they just ask you how many," said coach Kevin Stallings. "We found a way by the end of the night to get more than they did."

The game seemed to be put away multiple times as the Blue Demons (2-4) had their way with the Vandy defense, slicing through the lane, hitting 3-pointers and even throwing alley-oops. The flustered Commodores didn't help their cause, committing 18 turnovers, and found themselves down 58-40 in the second half.

"Their team played better than us for more of the game, and I told Jerry (Wainwright) that at the end of the game," Stallings said.

However, instead of packing it in, Vanderbilt dug deep. Metcalfe, who scored a career-high 18 points, had a tremendous stretch in which he scored 10 points in two minutes, including two 3-pointers, to inject the team with life.

"Alan really picked it up for us," said Stallings.

Down the stretch, Vanderbilt showed its depth as the usual suspects, Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy, stepped it up along with senior guard Alex Gordon, who hit four clutch free throws to help send the game to overtime, and classmate Ross Neltner, who grabbed two defensive rebounds in the waning moments of regulation.

Freshman Andre Walker also connected on his only field goal attempt of the game off a nifty between-the-legs pass from Bell, who scored a career-high 12 points (4-for-8 from 3-point range) to go along with eight assists and zero turnovers.

Ogilvy finished with 19 points on nine of 15 shooting and nine rebounds, while Foster added 19, as well, including 5-for-9 from downtown.

"We just have a fight in us," Foster said. "We went into the locker room saying we were going to fight regardless of what the score was, and we were just fortunate enough to get back in the game."

Luck certainly was a factor for the Commodores as a visibly frustrated DePaul wilted towards the end of the second half, taking ill-advised shots and missing most of their free throws.

Overtime was business as usual for the Commodores as Foster and Ogilvy combined for eight of the team's 12 points in the final frame, while Neltner and guard Jermaine Beal each had two points.

While it could have been prettier, Stallings and the rest of the team were happy to escape the hostile environment with a win and remain undefeated. The Commodores have just five non-conference games remaining.

"I'm proud of their belief in what we do," he said. "They believed they could do it, and they did it."