Demons just too charitable
Kevin Stallings was simply being honest, but his words still stung DePaul.
"We were extremely lucky to win that game," the Vanderbilt coach said. "They deserved to win."
The numbers proved Stallings right. DePaul scored 50 points in the paint and built its largest lead of the season (18 points) early in the second half. It got two 20-point performances and solid efforts from big men Mac Koshwal, Matija Poscic and Wesley Green.
But in the end, the only numbers that mattered were free throws and the final score: Vanderbilt 91, DePaul 85. The Commodores' overtime win dropped DePaul to 2-4 for the second straight year.
"You make free throws, you close out the game," Demons coach Jerry Wainwright said. "You can stand and practice all you want. But you can't duplicate the pressure of a game. It's impossible."
DePaul missed 4 of 5 free throws in the final 1:11 of regulation, squandering a seemingly safe 79-72 lead. Senior swingman Karron Clarke (15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) missed the final 3 foul shots.
"Man," a browbeaten Clarke said, "it just felt like everything was going wrong. At the free-throw line, it felt good every time it left my hand."
Vanderbilt rebounded Clarke's final miss and Ross Neltner found freshman center A.J. Ogilvy for the tying layup with 21.1 seconds left. DePaul senior guard Draelon Burns had a shot for the win, but his turnaround jumper was way off.
The Demons took an early lead in overtime before 20th-ranked Vanderbilt (10-0) took control behind Shan Foster (19 points) and Ogilvy, who scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime despite playing with 3 fouls the entire time.
Ogilvy's uncontested dunk with 3:35 left in overtime -- Wainwright tried to call timeout but didn't get one -- gave Vanderbilt an 82-81 edge, its first lead since midway through the opening half.
"That was a big lesson we just had," said Koshwal, who scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. "We should have kept fighting. I think we relaxed a little bit. We thought we won the game with still time left on the clock."
The missed free throws stood out for DePaul, but there were other slip-ups.
• The offense went from stimulating to stagnant midway through the second half, picking up two shot-clock violations as Vanderbilt mounted an 18-4 run.
• DePaul burned two timeouts on inbounds plays during the final minute of regulation, preventing a set play for its last possession.
• Clarke and Dar Tucker couldn't complete dunk attempts when layups would have sufficed and missed the subsequent free throws in crunch time.
• DePaul failed to seal off the lane in the deciding minutes, which led to extra opportunities for Vanderbilt (16 second-chance points)
"Those little things come back," Wainwright said.
Wainwright tried to take stock of the positives: 22 assists, 9 turnovers, 11 steals, 10 blocks and improvement from several players. But he couldn't sugarcoat the bottom line.
"We certainly were in a position to win," Wainwright said. "We try not to beat ourselves."