Vanderbilt sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy and junior guard Jermaine Beal had career highs of 28 and 27 points, respectively, to lead the Commodores to a 96-83 victory over South Carolina Saturday night.
Vanderbilt (17-11, 6-8 Southeastern Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak and had its best offensive output of the season in defeating the Gamecocks (20-7, 9-5) for the sixth time in their last seven match-ups; South Carolina beat Vanderbilt when they last met on Jan. 28.
Ogilvy was 12-15 shooting from the field, scoring 11 points in the first six minutes and hitting a big 3-pointer that brought the Memorial Gym crowd to its feet. Beal hit five 3-pointers and went 8-9 from the charity stripe.
The Commodores made 10 of their first 11 shots to take early control of the game. After spotting the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead, Vanderbilt went on a 9-0 run and went on to be up 30-13 just 10 minutes into the game.
It didn't get much closer than that as Vanderbilt took a 20-point halftime lead and cruised from there. Overall, the Commodores went 31-51 from the field (60.1 percent), essentially doubling their anemic showing from the field (31.4 percent) in an embarrassing loss at Georgia on Wednesday.
Freshman forward Jeff Taylor had 17 points and freshman guard Brad Tinsley added 16. Vanderbilt's four top scorers on the night combined for 88 points.
Vanderbilt is back in action Wednesday night at No. 18 LSU (25-4, 13-1), who clinched the regular season SEC title Saturday with a 73-70 win at Kentucky.
