Dogs upset bid of Vandy falls short

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- Jermaine Beal scored a career-high 28 points and No. 16 Vanderbilt overcame a five-point deficit in the final 33 seconds of regulation and went on to a 96-94 overtime victory against Georgia on Thursday night.

A.J. Ogilvy's tap-in with 15 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 77. Georgia's Travis Leslie then missed two chances to win the game.

The Commodores (21-6, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) took a six-point lead in overtime with 28 seconds to go. Georgia (12-14, 4-9) had a chance to tie at the end, but Leslie's toss of Chris Barnes' intentionally missed free throw fell short as the buzzer sounded.

Ogilvy had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Vanderbilt, which was playing for the first time since its 58-56 home loss to No. 2 Kentucky. Ogilvy missed a runner in the lane at the buzzer that would have tied that game.

John Jenkins had 14 points for the Commodores, while Jeffery Taylor added 11.

Leslie had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Trey Thompkins had 21 points, Dustin Ware 16, Ricky McPhee 14 and Jeremy Price 12.

The Bulldogs looked like they would pull off the upset, leading 77-72 with 33 seconds remaining in regulation. But Walker hit a 3-pointer and Ware missed two free throws on the next possession to open the door for Ogilvy's basket.

Georgia led by seven points on three occasions, including a 65-58 lead with 6:42 remaining.

After going nearly 7 minutes without a field goal, Vanderbilt finally scored away from the free-throw line. Ogilvy's basket in the lane capped an 8-1 run that tied the game at 66 with 3:12 left.

Thompkins followed with a turnaround jumper to retake the lead and the Bulldogs made 9 of 10 free throws to stay ahead until Ware's two misses.

The teams combined to attempt 65 free throws as Vanderbilt was 35 of 39 from the line.

Georgia trailed by 10 points in the first half and by five early in the second, but Ware tied it at 41 on a 3-pointer with 15:31 remaining.

The Bulldogs tied it four more times - the last when Leslie dunked an alley-oop pass from Thompkins. Thompkins then blocked Taylor to set up Georgia's go-ahead basket. McPhee followed with a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired for a 56-53 lead with 9:54 to go.