No. 24 Vanderbilt shot 60.9% from the field in the second half to hold off upset-minded VCU 89-74 on Thursday afternoon and clinch a spot in the Battle 4 Atlantis final at Paradise Island, Bahamas.
The Commodores (7-0) will play the winner of the Saint Mary’s and Virginia Tech matchup.
Duke Miles led the way for four Vanderbilt double-digit scorers with 20 points. Tyler Tanner and Tyler Nickel each scored 16 points and Jalen Washington (11) rounded out the scoring for the Commodores, who beat Western Kentucky 83-78 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
Vanderbilt shot 52.9% from the field overall and made 11 of their 22 3-pointers, including 5-for-8 in the second half where they outscored VCU 46-33
Lazar Djokovic, who had a team-high 20 points in the Rams’ 78-66 quarterfinal win over South Florida, left the game due to injury on two separate occasions and only managed 12 points. Nyk Lewis chipped in 16 points and Jadrian Tracey had 15 but were a combined 8-for-25 from the field for VCU (4-3).
Nickel made a 3-pointer with 8:28 left to push the Commodores lead back to double digits. Vanderbilt got the 73-62 lead by making 9 of their first 13 shots, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
After a contested layup by Tanner and a 3-point play by Miles, the Commodores opened up their biggest lead of the day leading 85-65 with 3:16 left as they held VCU without a made basket for over four minutes.
Vanderbilt had 18 assists and outrebounded the Rams 43-29.
The Commodores came out the gates in a flurry with a 20-3 run as they made seven of their first 12 shots and forced seven Rams turnovers in the first eight minutes.
VCU started to pick things up to draw closer and went on a 20-4 run to trim the lead to 24-18 with 8:31 left in the half after Lewis hit a pair of free throws.
Michael Belle got his own miss and made a layup with 0.8 seconds left to bring VCU almost all the way back, trailing just 43-41 at the half.
Despite shooting just 31% from the field in the first half, the Rams were able to mount the comeback by scoring over half of their points at the free throw line making 21 of 24.
