Junior Jermaine Beal talked about needing to be a leader of the team when Vanderbilt was mired in its four-game losing streak. He certainly showed it Saturday.

Beal was a sensational 7-8 on 3-pointers for 21 points to lead the Commodores (13-8, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) to an 82-75 victory at Auburn Saturday, ending their longest losing streak in three years.

"I made a couple and I just kept shooting and just kept making them, so I kept shooting it," Beal said. "This game helped us out a lot and hopefully we can build off this game."

"How about Beal's play? He was pretty good, huh?" joked Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. "Jermaine made big shots."

Vanderbilt led the entire first half, going up by as many as 13 before the Tigers (13-8, 2-4) chipped away at the lead, finally moving ahead 48-45 with 16:20 to play in the second half.

Beal responded with a 3 and Vanderbilt went back up before Auburn took a 61-60 lead with eight minutes to play. Freshman guard Brad Tinsley hit two free throws to take back the lead and the Tigers couldn't get back up after that. Tinsley hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game when Vanderbilt led by two with 30 seconds to play, knocking down a 3-pointer just before the shot clock ran out to put the Commodores up by 5 points and put the nail in Auburn's coffin.

Both teams shot lights out from the field (Vanderbilt was 28-46 for 61 percent, Auburn was 28-57 for 49 percent) but were woeful from the free throw line. The Commodores were an anemic 16-31 (52 percent); the Tigers were even worse, making just 7-15 (43 percent).

Sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy snapped a streak of single-digit scoring performances with 14 points, including a critical 3-point play down the stretch to keep Vanderbilt afloat.

"(Ogilvy) got impatient a few times and turned the ball over, but as he feels better and plays better, our guys are going to generate more confidence," Stallings said. "He gave us an entirely different feel to our offense because he felt he could post up hard and doesn't feel as sick right now."

Vanderbilt, in notching its first road conference win this season, had its highest scoring output of the SEC slate thus far and won for the first time when giving up more than 70 points. The Commodores defeated Auburn for the third straight time.

"I was very proud of our composure down the stretch. I thought we played intelligently," Stallings said. "When you lose four in a row it seems like an eternity. It seems like an absolutely eternity. I'm proud of our guys staying positive and staying with us and staying with the plan. We got the job done."