Overtime wasn’t any friendlier to the Georgia men’s basketball team on the road than regulation, as the Bulldogs suffered a 96-94 overtime loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt. Guard Dustin Ware scored a layup with 1:36 remaining in overtime to tie the game up at 86, but Vanderbilt rattled off six unanswered points over the next minute to pull away from Georgia.

DUSTIN WARE

Ware hit two consecutive 3-pointers to get Georgia within a bucket with 13 seconds remaining. But Vanderbilt’s Jermaine Beal, who had a game-high 28 points, drained four consecutive free throws in the final 25 seconds of overtime to keep the Commodores ahead. Chris Barnes got a dunk and the foul to bring Georgia within two with one second left. He missed the free throw intentionally, and Ware got the rebound but hurried the shot, which came up short. Travis Leslie rebounded it for the put back just tenths of

a second too late.

Vanderbilt (21-6,10-3) was 12-for-12 from the free throw line in overtime and made 17 more from the line than Georgia.

Though Georgia (12-14, 4-9) was up five points with 33 seconds remaining, Vanderbilt forward Andre Walker drilled a 3-pointer and center A.J. Ogilvy tipped in a shot to tie it up with 10 seconds remaining.

Leslie couldn’t convert a contested left-hand reverse layup, sending the game into overtime.

“We were behind at the half and really played with a lot of heart and courage in the second half,” head coach Mark Fox said. “We were better from the field than they were, made more field goals, we won the rebounding battle, and only committed 11 turnovers in 45 minutes and played really well tonight. Still, we leave here with a loss so I’m really disappointed for our kids.”

Ware played his best game as a Bulldog with 16 points and a career-high eight assists. Leslie led the Dogs in scoring and rebounds with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Trey Thompkins notched his fourth game with 20 points or more with a 21-point, seven-rebound performance.