ATLANTA – Jeffery Taylor scored 21 points and Vanderbilt held on for an ugly 62-50 win over LSU Thursday night in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, even without the league's top scorer.
Guard John Jenkins, averaging more than 19 points a game, sat out after tweaking his left foot in the regular-season finale against Florida last weekend. He went through warmups, and school officials said he was available if needed.
He wasn't needed, though.
After a sluggish start, the Commodores (22-9) pulled away to lead by as many as 14 in the first half. They stretched the margin to 20 points against last-place LSU (11-21), which closed out its second straight 20-loss season after winning the SEC title in 2009.
Andre Stringer led the Tigers with 13 points.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.