Vanderbilt survives foul-plagued game with Austin Peay, 90-72

The best way to sum up the Vanderbilt Commodores’ 90-72 win over the Austin Peay Governors on Wednesday night: the officials called a grand total of 49 fouls.

The game started slowly, with nobody really ever being able to get into an offensive rhythm thanks to the whistle-happy officiating crew. Vanderbilt was in the bonus by the first media timeout of the game, and Austin Peay slowly got out to a lead about midway through the first half. But Vanderbilt closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a 38-37 lead into the break, thanks to an excellent defensive play by Matthew Moyer leading to a Saben Lee layup to close the half.

And in the second half, the threes started falling. With 17:35 left in the second half, Scotty Pippen Jr. gave Vanderbilt a lead with a three-pointer, and the Commodores would never trail from there — though the Governors made a game effort and never really went away, with Vanderbilt’s lead never getting above 12 points until the final minutes. Aaron Nesmith put the finishes on the game with a breakaway dunk with a minute to go that put Vanderbilt up 86-70.

The final score was 90-72, which makes the win sound a lot easier than it actually was. Aaron Nesmith led all scorers with 26 points, and Scotty Pippen Jr. set a new career high with 21; Saben Lee added 19. The Commodores will return to Memorial Gym on Friday night to face South Carolina State.