ANAHEIM, Calif. – Liam Robbins scored a team-high 20 points to go with a career-high eight blocks to lead the Vanderbilt men’s basketball team to a 67-59 win over Fresno State on Thursday in the third-place game of the Wooden Legacy.
The eight blocks are tied for the most by an NCAA Division I men’s basketball student-athlete in a game this season.
Vanderbilt (3-3) also received standout performances from Tyrin Lawrence with 19 points and three assists, as well as 16 points and five rebounds from Myles Stute.
Vandy found itself down by seven in the first half before roaring back for a 31-26 halftime edge over the Bulldogs.
A strong start to the second half put the Commodores up 44-33 with 16:29 to play. Fresno State regained the advantage at 58-57 with just over three minutes to go. An 11-2 run by the Doors down the stretch proved to be the difference in the game.
Vandy committed just eight turnovers on the night and finished with 12 assists highlighted by six from Ezra Manjon.
Next up, Vanderbilt heads to Richmond, Virginia, to take on VCU on Nov. 30.
Quotes from Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse
“This was a really gutsy win from our group. We were down some bodies, we were down a starter in [F] Quentin Millora-Brown who had the flu. Another player, [G] Noah Shelby had the flu. [G] Ezra Manjon just battled. He wasn’t healthy tonight, he wasn’t himself, he hasn’t been himself the last couple of days but he gave us everything he had. [G] Jordan Wright hurt his back last night but he was able to gut it through. But the guys that were out there, [G] Tyrin [Lawrence], [C] Liam [Robbins], [F} Myles Stute, they played like veteran players. They’re guys that know what we’re doing and they got the win for us tonight. I’m really proud of our group, proud of how we were able to just weather the storm. It wasn’t a perfect game, it was a little bit of an ugly game, but we’d rather win ugly than lose pretty any night. I’m proud of our guys.”
(On holding off Fresno State in the second half) The guys just battled, I think that was it. It was all the ebbs and flows in this game. We got up a little bit, they got up a little bit, we got back, we got up a little bit. Those guys [Fresno State] were a desperate team. There’s a lot of pride in that group. That was a 23-win team from last year and they just got off to a slow start this year. Before it’s all said and done, I think you’re going to hear a lot from…