NASHVILLE, Tenn. — J.P. Prince scored a season-high 17 points, and No. 9 Tennessee showed off its depth in beating Middle Tennessee 75-54 on Friday night in the first game of the Sun Belt Classic doubleheader.
The Vols (7-1) hadn’t played since downing East Tennessee State on Dec. 2, and the nine-day layoff led to some sloppy play. The ugliest came when Wayne Chism clanked his one-handed dunk attempt off the right rim in the second half.
Vanderbilt played Western Kentucky in the second game pitting two Sun Belt teams against Tennessee’s two Southeastern Conference members.
Middle Tennessee (3-6) lost its third straight. Desmond Yates led the Blue Raiders with a game-high 26 points, and James Washington had 11.
Bobby Maze added 12 points for Tennessee, which shot 50 percent (27-of-54) for the game.
Tennessee took the lead for good on Cameron Tatum’s 3-pointer less than 3 minutes into the game. The Vols led 37-30 at halftime and pushed it to as much as 22 in the second half, when Prince beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer to make it 68-46 with 5:36 left.
It was Prince’s first game this season scoring more than eight points, and the senior guard came off the bench to hit 6 of 8 from the floor. He was also 4 of 5 from the foul line.
Middle Tennessee led only once off Yates’ layup in the first minute, and his layup moments later tied it at 4. But he was the only one to score for the Blue Raiders until Washington hit a 3-pointer with 13:08 left.
By then, six different Vols had scored to make up for leading scorer Scotty Hopson missing both his shots in the first half. Hopson had been averaging 15.7 points and finished with one.
Yates seemingly couldn’t miss. He hit five of his first six shots, and his 3-pointer with 14:19 remaining pulled the Blue Raiders within 13-11. He hit a jumper midway through the half to make it 19-16, before Tennessee scored seven straight points capped by a three-point play by Prince to give the Vols’ their first double-digit lead.
That was part of a 15-4 spurt, with Maze’s 3 giving Tennessee its biggest lead of the half at 34-20 with 4:19 left.
The Vols picked up some needless fouls, sending Washington to the line. He made 4 of 5 shots, and Trevor Ottley’s bucket just before halftime pulled the Blue Raiders within 37-30.
Middle Tennessee got a technical foul in the final minute for trying to call a timeout when the Blue Raiders didn’t have any.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
