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• Arkansas escapes Louisiana-Monroe, 28-27
• Tebow helps Florida snap losing streak to Miami, 26-3
• Alabama shaky against Tulane, 20-6

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South Carolina's Sam Mujldrow (44) loses the ball as the tries to score on a layup Wednesday night against Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Kevin Stallings had been telling his 13th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores to push the ball inside the past two days. At halftime against South Carolina, they needed a reminder.

A.J. Ogilvy responded.

Ogilvy scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half, and Vanderbilt beat the Gamecocks 80-73 in Nashville on Wednesday night, showing no signs of slowing down just because it's time for SEC play.

"A.J., he's just a monster," Vanderbilt guard Alex Gordon said of Ogilvy.

Shan Foster and Gordon both added 13 points for the Commodores (16-0, 1-0 SEC), who stretched their best start ever and the school's longest winning streak by beating the Gamecocks (8-7, 0-1) for the fourth straight time.

"I'm proud of our team," Stallings said. "We survived."

South Carolina made the Commodores work for this victory, swapping the lead eight times with four ties in the second half alone. The Gamecocks harassed Vanderbilt into 17 turnovers, 10 of those on steals.

Foster, the SEC's leading scorer, followed up a season-high 32 points against Massachusetts last weekend with his worst scoring performance. He was 4-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-9 from 3-point range.

Ogilvy, second to Foster in the league in scoring, made up the difference. He was 7-of-10 from the field in the second half and finished 7-of-8 at the free throw line.

Devan Downey led South Carolina with 22 points, while Zam Fredrick added 21 and Dwayne Day had 14.

Guard Brandis Raley-Ross of the Gamecocks played in his first game since spraining his left knee in practice Dec. 29 when he landed awkwardly from a dunk. The nation's most accurate 3-point shooter at 65.2 percent didn't take a shot until 13:46 left in the game, and he missed.

Vanderbilt outrebounded (41-33) and outshot the Gamecocks, especially at the free throw line where the Commodores went 15-of-17 - all in the second half. South Carolina hit all four it attempted.

"They do go inside, and you're going to foul them more," South Carolina coach Dave Odom said. "But we've got to figure out a way to get inside and get some fouls ourselves because we do shoot free throws pretty well."

Mississippi St. 61, LSU 39: Jarvis Varnado scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated the Tigers in Baton Rouge, La.

Jamont Gordon had 13 points and Barry Stewart 11 for Mississippi State (10-5, 1-0 SEC), which never trailed.

The Bulldogs held LSU to 21 percent shooting (14-of-66) from the field. Mississippi State also blocked 10 Tigers shots.

Marcus Thornton led LSU (7-8, 0-1) with 12 points.

Georgia 79, Georgia Tech 72: Billy Humphrey scored 23 points and host Bulldogs claimed state bragging rights with an ugly win.

Georgia (9-4) maintained the home-court advantage that has prevailed in this rivalry, winning its 12th in a row over the Yellow Jackets (7-7) at Stegeman Coliseum.

Maurice Miller led Georgia Tech with 15 points. The Yellow Jackets couldn't overcome 40 percent shooting from the field and a 19-of-35 showing at the foul line.

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