NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Jason Edwards scored 23 points and pulled five rebounds as Vanderbilt (7-1) spent the second half pulling away from Tennessee Tech (4-4) by an 87-56 score in Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Edwards didn't start for the first time all year, but hit 8-of-15 shots, including a team-high four 3-pointers.

AJ Hoggard added 15 points, four rebounds and four assists for the Commodores, while Chris Manon--starting for the first time this season--added 11 points.

Vanderbilt, led by Devin McGlockton's game-high 14 rebounds, won the battle on the glass, 48-35.

It's the Golden Eagels' worst loss of the season.

"To beat that team--they gave Georgia a 5-point game. Central Florida, they're down one under 10 minutes, against good teams--that team can cause some problems. We knew it and we respected it and our guys did a good job today."

“Yeah these games after Thanksgiving are always scary as a coach and also after a tournament, but I thought it was the right response,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington said.

The Commodores, which never led by double-digits in the first half, started to seperate early in the second half.

Hoggard hit a 3 and then took a long pass from McGlockton off McGlockton’s rebound, laying it in for an easy two and a 52-36 lead with 15:43 remaining.

"Just kind of finishing possessions and putting stops together. ... That's one of our staples on defense, getting three stops in a row," Hoggard responded, when asked what fueled the Commodores' late ability to separate their difficulty to do that earlier. "Kind of just putting our stops together, getting out, being able to play the way we want to play, and put offense with defense.

"I think we kind of started doing that, putting offense with defense. I think we started doing that, that kind of helped us get our lead and kept it going."

The lead hit 20 for the first time on a Tyler Tanner lay-up with 14:23 to play.

Tech hung around as Vanderbilt went nearly 2 1/2 minutes without a point, but a Hoggard lay-up with 9:23 left pushed the lead back to 20.

A Jordan Williams 3 with 1:13 left pushed the lead over 30 for the first time.

Vanderbilt led most of the half and was up 39-30 at the break.

Edwards, fresh off the bench, canned a 3 from the left side to beat the shot clock and put the Commodores up, 14-11.

After a Tech miss, Tanner hit one from close to the same spot to make the lead six.

Vanderbilt didn’t trail in the first half from there, but the halftime margin was also its biggest lead.

"(Tech) made some early 3s," Byington said. "I thought our close-outs were a little slow to start."

I think you're watching some teams right now that are playing maybe their best basketball, their peak, and we're not," Byington said. "It's okay. I'm excited about that, because we're going to keep getting better and better. We had the right intensity, the right focus, we did a lot of good things today."

Byington didn't elaborate much on the decision not to start Edwards, who sat for Manon to begin the afternoon.

"Yeah, I don't care about the starters," he said. "Who starts, and everything else. Give Jason credit, Jason played great today. Jason Edwards was really good, and Chris deserves some more time.

"We study our team, our lineups, and he does a lot of good things on the floor, and we're still trying to adjust and figure it out. So it wasn't that anyone did anything wrong, it was more so (that) guys did things right and I thought Jason Edwards played great today.

"I don't know what it's going to be like next game, who's going to start or (be on) the bench, and I don't care. But finding guys who can be productive, that's the biggest thing."

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