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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Vanderbilt 63, Georgia 41
When: 10:00 PM ET, Friday, March 9, 2012
Where: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: # Pat Evans, # Anthony Jordan, # Garry Maxwell
Attendance: N/A

Vanderbilt 63, Georgia 41: John Jenkins scored 15 points as the Commodores survived a sluggish first half in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

The third-seeded Commodores (22-10) will meet No. 7 seed Mississippi in Saturday's semifinals. A victory would send Vanderbilt into the SEC championship game for the first time since 1951.

Georgia (15-17) led 25-24 at halftime and were within 36-32 after Dustin Ware’s 3-pointer with 14:36 to go. The Commodores put the game out of reach with a 14-3 run, holding the Bulldogs without a field goal for 8:22.

Jenkins and Lance Goulbourne jump-started the run with 3-pointers and Festus Ezeli’s layup with 6:50 remaining gave Vanderbilt a 50-35 lead.

Brad Tinsley added 12 points for the Commodores. Ezeli and Goulbourne each scored 10 points.

One night after shooting 51 percent in an opening-round upset of Mississippi State, Georgia could not get on track. The Bulldogs shot only 31.9 percent and early foul trouble to forwards Marcus Thornton and Donte Williams hurt Georgia’s chances of a second-straight stunner.

Ware led the Bulldogs with 10 points. Gerald Robinson, who scored 23 points in each of the past two games, finished with only three points.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
Early fouls forced Georgia coach Mark Fox to dig deep into his bench, and seldom-used reserve John Cannon scored six points in the first half. … Georgia’s bench outscored Vanderbilt’s reserves 17-0 in the opening 20 minutes. … Vanderbilt, which led the SEC in 3-point shooting this season (40 percent), finished 6 for 25 beyond the arc (24 percent).
Top Game Performances
 
Georgia   Vanderbilt
Dustin Ware 10 Scoring John Jenkins 15
Dustin Ware 2 Assists Brad Tinsley 3
Sherrard Brantley 4 Rebounds Lance Goulbourne 6
John Cannon 4 Free Throws Made Lance Goulbourne 3
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1 Steals Lance Goulbourne 2
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1 Blocks James Siakam 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Georgia 41 31.9 2-17 9-16 7 31 3 3 17
Vanderbilt 63 43.9 6-25 7-11 11 32 1 8 8