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Ogilvy, Foster help Vanderbilt improve to 9-0

Dec 9, 2007 - 5:39 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- A.J. Ogilvy and Shan Foster helped Vanderbilt continue its strong start to the 2007-08 season.

Ogilvy had 26 points and 10 rebounds and Foster scored 21 as the 25th-ranked Commodores blew past Lipscomb, 90-67, on Saturday.

It is the first time in four seasons that the Commodores (9-0) have won their first nine games to begin the season and they improved to 21-4 all-time against the Bisons, whose school is just 10 minutes away in Nashville.

"I'm pleased with most of what we did tonight," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "I thought we played pretty well defensively in the first half. I thought we played well offensively in the second half. We took care of the ball, which I asked them to do. It was a hard-earned win and I'm pleased do have played as well as we did."

Vanderbilt used a 14-0 run to take an early 18-4 lead with 13:26 to play in the first half and led by double digits for the majority of the game.

The Commodores led, 36-25, at the half - powered by 18 points from Ogilvy - and never led by less than eight points during the entire second half.

Ogilvy and Foster came into the game scoring a combined 39.2 points per game, which is the highest scoring duo in the Southeastern Conference. In fact, Foster leads the conference, averaging 20.4 points, and Ogilvy ranks second with 18.8 points per game.

"It's definitely important to have someone else to rely on," Ogilvy said. "I know that if I'm not playing well, Shan will be there to pick it up. It's the same the other way around."

The Bisons used an 11-4 run to cut the Commodores lead to 54-46 with 12:25 to play, but went without a field goal for over four minutes as Vanderbilt pulled away.

Vanderbilt answered with a 14-2 spurt - keyed by 11 points from Foster - to take a 68-48 bulge with 8:17 remaining and coasted to the finish.

"I wasn't disappointed that our lead got to eight points," Stallings said. "I was disappointed that we started off the second half fouling. I was disappointed that we put them to the foul line 18 times in the second half. Obviously, that was a problem. I'm happy with the fact that we went to our guys that we needed to go when things got like that."

The Commodores shot 49 percent (30-of-61) from the field, including 11-of-22 from the arc, while the Bisons connected on just 38 percent (27-of-72) of their shot attempts for the game.

Eddie Ard scored 18 points to lead Lipscomb (4-6), which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

"We thought we were pretty good defensively, but against Vanderbilt, you have to guard the entire floor," Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said. "Ogilvy can shoot it, post up, do a little bit of everything. He also has guys that he can pass it to that can make plays. Sometimes against good teams, you only have to guard part of the floor, but not against Vanderbilt."