Xzayvier Brown scored 20 points and Oklahoma led from start to finish and eventually held on for a 92-91 road win at No. 15 Vanderbilt in Southeastern Conference play at Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday afternoon.
The Sooners (12-12, 2-9 SEC) shot 53.4% from the floor and snapped a nine-game losing streak.
Brown canned a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds left that turned out to be crucial when Tyler Tanner (37 points, nine assists) banked in a 3 at the buzzer for the Commodores.
The Sooners received 17 points from Nigel Pack and 14 from Tae Davis.
Vanderbilt (19-4, 6-4) got 18 points from Tyler Nickel and 13 from AK Okereke.
Vanderbilt shot 47.4% from the field.
Brown hit a lay-up off a Derrion Reid steal to put the lead over 20 (61-40) for the first time with 15:47 to play.
The Sooners milked the shot clock inside 10 seconds for much of the remainder of the game until it nearly backfired. They led 80-59 with 4:59 left until Tanner, who had 26 in the second half, led a furious comeback.
Oklahoma took a 48-34 halftime lead thanks to 58.6% to 38.5% edge in shooting as well as advantages in turnovers (8-6) edge in turnovers and rebounding (18-13).
Davis hit his first five shots and scored 14 points as part of the Sooners’ 24-8 lead in the game’s first 7:21. Oklahoma connected on 9 of its first 13 shots, four of them 3s.
Vanderbilt clawed within 33-27, but the Sooners put together a 9-2 run to go up 42-29 after Jones canned a corner 3, drew a third foul on Mike James and then hit the ensuing free throw.
Tanner played with his right (shooting) thumb taped in the second half. He was the only one of Vanderbilt’s point guards to play on Saturday as Duke Miles (16.6 ppg) and Frankie Collins (7.8) were both out again with injuries.
It was a Quad 3 loss for Vanderbilt, which hadn’t lost outside Quad 1 this season.
