Ogilvy, Foster help Vandy top Wake
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Those who believe Vanderbilt's basketball fortunes begin and end with Andrew Ogilvy seemed to be proven right on Wednesday night.
Ogilvy scored 10 of the Commodores' first 13 points, and six of Vandy's final seven down the stretch, as 23rd-ranked Vandy (8-0) eked out an 83-80 win over Wake Forest (5-2) in Memorial Gymnasium before 13,658 fans.
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Ogilvy and Shan Foster, who scored a game-high 26 points, helped the Commodores on a night where the Demon Deacons got uncharacteristically-hot from the outside. A 27 percent 3-point shooting team coming in, Wake canned 13-of-29 attempts and never trailed the Commodores by more than seven in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Commodores' usually-efficient offense registered just 14 assists to offset 15 turnovers and shot a season-low 44.1 percent from the field.
"While it certainly was not our best performance… I'm really proud of our team 'cause Wake Forest did some things tonight that they've just not been able to do all season long," Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings said.
With the Commodores trailing 78-76, Ogilvy was fouled and sunk a pair of free throws with 1:29 left to tie the score. After Wake's James Johnson missed a jumper on the other end, Ogilvy struck again with a short jumper in the lane to put Vandy up two with 36 seconds left.
When Johnson missed a 3 on the ensuing possession, Ogilvy rebounded it and then sunk two more free throws with 16 seconds left for an 82-78 lead.
"I knew, down the stretch, we needed a couple of good shots, a couple of big defensive stops. When the ball came to me inside, I knew we needed a really quick shot up," Ogilvy said.
Ogilvy's last charity tosses resulted in the winning margin. L.D. Williams converted a jumper to cut Vandy's lead to two with four seconds left, but VU's Jermaine Beal added a final free throw with a second remaining before Wake's desperation, three-quarter court heave hit the backboard as time expired.
Wake took an early 5-0 lead, but Ogilvy's early scoring flurry (10 points in the first 5:12) and a Foster 3 put Vandy up 13-8. The Commodores built that lead to 23-13 on Keegan Bell's 3 with 9:32 left in the half, but led just 35-31 at the break.
The Deacons kept the margin close the whole way, but didn't take the lead until Johnson's two free throws with exactly two minutes left gave Wake a 76-74 lead, and Ogilvy took over again.
"He's just a terrific, terrific player," Wake Coach Dino Gaudio said of Ogilvy. "He uses his body incredibly well. … I probably coached eight-to-10 post players who play or played in the [NBA] and he uses his body as well as any of those."
Foster connected on eight-of-15 shots (4-9 3-pointers) and tied Ross Neltner with a team-high seven rebounds.
Johnson led Wake in rebounding with 13 boards, and tied Harvey Hale (18) for the team's scoring lead.
The Commodores next face cross-town rival Lipscomb on Saturday night at Memorial Gym.