College basketball roundup: Vanderbilt, Arkansas reach SEC final

Nashville, Tenn. — Tyler Tanner scored 20 points and dished out eight assists, Duke Miles scored 15 with seven assists and No. 22 Vanderbilt earned a 91-74 victory over No. 4 Florida on Saturday in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Commodores advanced to Sunday’s conference final against Arkansas.

Jalen Washington scored 17 points for the fourth-seed Commodores (26-7), who also got 12 from Devin McGlockton and 11 from AK Okereke.

Thomas Haugh had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Gators (26-7), who saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end. Florida also received 15 points from Boogie Fland, 13 from Alex Condon and 12 from Rueben Chinyelu.

Vanderbilt took a 39-27 lead with 3:29 remaining in the first half and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. The Commodores shot 54.5% from the floor and 47.6% (20 of 21) from 3-point range.

The Commodores overcame a 38-23 rebounding deficit by scoring 24 points off 14 Gators turnovers.

Okereke hit a 3-pointer to start the half and put Vandy up 50-34 before the Gators’ Condon and Chinyelu each drew their third fouls just over a minute into the second half. Condon picked up a fourth with 16:20 remaining.

Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing hit a layup as he was crashing to the floor after an Urrban Klavzar shove and completed a three-point play for a 65-46 lead with 11:45 remaining.

On the next possession, Bing took a cross-court pass from Okereke, drove the left baseline and threw down a dunk that put Vandy up 67-46.

Miles drove the lane and kicked it to McGlockton for an open 3-pointer that extended the Commodores’ advantage to 74-51 with 8:19 left.

Florida coach Todd Golden called timeout and was subsequently whistled for a technical foul. Miles hit both free throws to make it 76-51.

Vanderbilt’s inside presence of Washington, McGlockton and Jayden Leverett all had four fouls when the latter picked one up with 7:09 remaining.

But the Gators put Vandy in the double bonus with 6:03 left, when Miles hit both free throws to push the lead to 78-56.

Vanderbilt committed a pair of turnovers late that helped Florida cut their deficit to 84-70 inside of the final three minutes before the Commodores put away the victory.

More Southeastern Conference

▶Arkansas 93, Mississippi 90, OT: At Nashville, third-seeded Arkansas got 29 points from Meleek Thomas, 24 from Darius Acuff Jr. and double-doubles from Trevon Brazile and Malique Ewen to escape with a 93-90 overtime victory over 15th-seeded Ole Miss in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals.

Ewen scored 14 and pulled down a game-high 13 boards while Brazile scored 16 with 10 rebounds as No. 17 Arkansas (25-8) advanced to face No. 22 Vanderbilt (26-7) in Sunday’s final. The fourth-seeded Commodores bounced top-seeded Florida 91-74 in the day’s first semifinal.

AJ Storr scored a team-high 24 points for Ole Miss (15-20), which included a basket with one second left to send the game into overtime. Malik Dia chipped in 16 points for the Rebels, who nearly pulled off their fourth upset in as many days. They also got 15 from Patton Pinkins and 13 from Ilias Kamardine.

Arkansas outrebounded the Rebels 44-31 and shot 74.2% from the line, though its 4-of-8 shooting in overtime left the door open for the upset.

With five seconds left in regulation and Ole Miss trailing 79-77, Storr took the ball the length of the floor and banked in a left-handed layup with one second left.

Arkansas never trailed in overtime, but Storr’s drive and dunk with nine seconds left kept Ole Miss in position to win by cutting the lead to 91-90.

Acuff hit the second of two free throws and then Storr missed a 3-point attempt from the right side. Brazile got the rebound and hit the second of two foul shots, which gave Arkansas a chance to set its defense.

Travis Perry’s mid-court heave crashed off the backboard as time expired.

Arkansas built an 11-point lead midway through the first half, but couldn’t put away Ole Miss. The Rebels trailed 37-36 at half after shooting 11 of 15 on layups.

Arkansas held a 70-60 lead with 5:43 to play in regulation after Thomas hit two foul shots.

Kamardine hit two free throws with seven seconds left to get Ole Miss within one.

Two seconds later, after a timeout, Kamardine fouled out, sending Thomas to the line where he hit one of two for Arkansas’s last points of regulation.