Nashville, TENN--It's hard to imagine it ending any better than that.

As Vanderbilt honored Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Tasos Kamateros and Evan Taylor for graduates day, Lawrence became the hero by securing a steal and bouncing in a game-winning layup that accounted for his 1,000th career point and put Vanderbilt over the edge in a 79-78 win at Memorial Gymnasium

"I wouldn't draw it up no other way," Lawrence said. "Probably the most dramatic 1,000th point ever scored."

Vanderbilt went down on the other end and saw Florida cough it up as Ven-Allen Lubin secured the steal and the victory for Vanderbilt then tossed in the air in front of an energized Memorial Gymnasium.

Lubin led the way with 25 points and 11 rebounds, those 25 points were tied for his career high.

Florida led Vanderbilt 39-32 at the break despite outshooting it 51.7% from the field to 26.5%, Vanderbilt threw in 11 free throws at the half to keep itself in the game.

The Commodores took a lead on a Kamateros layup with 14:52 to go on the afternoon. That was Kamateros' eighth point of the day.

This one went back and fourth from there with what ended up being 12 lead changes on the day.

Perhaps no switch was more exciting than JaQualon Roberts' dunk that has a real case for Vanderbilt's best of the year alongside Isaiah West's early-season slam against Central Arkansas.

Vanderbilt trailed by just three at the under eight media timeout but had its deficit extended to eight by the 5:55.

Lawrence tied it back up with an and-one layup with just under two minutes to go.

Florida guard Riley Kugel countered on the other end with a mid-range jumper to put Florida back up 73-71 before Lubin's layup that tied it again and fired up the Vanderbilt sideline.

That fire kept showing up as the Commodores found a way to win their fourth SEC game of the season against a team that could make a deep run at Bridgestone Arena next week.

"Vanderbilt was definitely the more tougher team today," Florida head coach Todd Golden said. "In the things that don't require talent I thought they outplayed us."

Three quick takes:

That's a heck of a way for Vanderbilt to send out its seniors and was its best win of the season

Saturday was about as bright of a patch as Vanderbilt could've hoped for in a dark season.

"I just thought that was an awesome game," Stackhouse said. "So happy for our seniors. I thought everybody stepped on the court and contributed."

In a game in which Vanderbilt trailed for over 31 minutes and didn't have efficient guard play, it still turned out that Manjon and Lawrence had some more magic in them.

Vanderbilt rallied back from as much as 12 to beat a 21-win team as it should be peaking.

"I just thought our guys' attention to detail and how they played together and shared was just awesome to watch," the fifth-year coach added.

That was a heck of a win, especially for Vanderbilt's veteran guards.

That's the best this team has ever offensive rebounded and that's why it was in this game

Florida shot 51.7% from the field as opposed to Vanderbilt's 35.5% and yet Stackhouse's team was in this game.

A quick look at the box score gives a reason why.

The Commodores out-rebounded Florida 20-6 on the offensive glass and had 21 second-chance points as opposed to the Gators' six.

"(They are a) great rebounding team and I thought we were able to really keep them from getting the offensive boards stuff that is a staple of who they are," Stackhouse said. "I know this season hasn’t been what we’ve wanted, but we saw some guys grow up right in front of our eyes today.”

That was no better personification of that than the possession that Roberts grabbed four offensive rebounds before the ball went back on the other end. Roberts finished with seven total rebounds, all seven being offensive.

"You saw what he was capable of," Stackhouse said of Roberts. "Not only the seven offensive rebounds but also how he attacked that basket."

There's not often a shooting percentage gap that big in a competitive game, but Vanderbilt was able to sustain the gap through what it did on the offensive glass.

At one point, the Commodores had 18 offensive rebounds and 17 field goals made.

Vanderbilt finished with 18 more field goals attempted than Florida, that felt like the difference.

A tale of two matchups

Vanderbilt looked as if it never had a chance just a few weeks ago in Gainesville as Florida held the lead from the 6:09 mark of the first half on en route to a 13-point victory.

Saturday was a much, much different story.

Vanderbilt weathered punch after punch after punch as it found a way to beat a team that it looked like it had no business beating a few weeks ago.

How quickly things can change...

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