NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s Clevon Brown set a new career high with 19 points and Vanderbilt cruised past visiting South Carolina State 97-60 on Friday at Memorial Gymnasium.

A senior center, Brown also pulled in six rebounds and blocked two two shots as the Commodores (4-1) pulled away after SCSU had threatened within 10 in the second half.

Sophomore guard Aaron Nesmith, who came in averaging 26.5 points per game, settled for 20. Freshman guard Scotty Pippen finished his night with 13 points and eight assists while fellow freshman forward Dylan Disu recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Junior guard Saben Lee had 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals and Max Evans, also a junior, finished with 12.

Vandy returns home at 7 p.m. Monday to host Southeastern Louisiana (2-3).

Vanderbilt raced out to a 15-8 lead Friday and forced an SCSU timeout when Pippen lobbed an alley-oop for Disu. When the Bulldogs trimmed the deficit to 16-13, Nesmith answered with a right-wing 3 at 19-13 and then a left-corner triple at 24-17.

Pippen kept the momentum going with a three-point play putting the home team ahead 29-17. Another Disu triple made it 32-19 and a Brown bucket increased the margin to 15.

Back-to-back dunks from Brown late in the half upped Vandy’s lead to 21 and that’s where it would rest as the team’s went to the locker room. Vanderbilt, leading 47-26, shot nearly 61 percent in the first half and registered 11 assists on 17 made field goals.

South Carolina State cut the gap to 49-37 early in the second before a Pippen triple stretched it back out to a 15-point margin. Ian Kind got the Bulldogs within 10 thanks to a corner 3 at the 15:27 mark only before a Lee three-point play made it 57-42.

Vandy kept the margin in that neighborhood for the next seven minutes or so until Pippen, running the fastbreak, dropped a pass behind his back on the perimeter for Lee who took it through the left side of the defense leading up to his two-handed jam.

That made it 73-52 and put the game on ice.

The Commodores won despite going 15 of 28 from the line. But they made up for it with 12 made 3s and 39-21 win on the boards.