Tyler Nickel, AK Okereke, and Devin McGlockton combined for 65 points to lead No. 19 Vanderbilt to an 82-69 victory Saturday over Texas A&M in Nashville, Tenn.

Nickel scored 25 points, while Okereke added 23. McGlockton posted 17 points and eight rebounds.

Nickel’s long-range shooting (five 3-pointers) and season-high scoring total from Okereke allowed the Commodores (21-4, 8-4 SEC) to win for the fifth time in six games.

Vanderbilt also got 11 points off the bench from Chandler Bing. The Commodores shot 56.5 percent in the second half and made 15 of 17 free throws in the final 8:20. Tyler Tanner, who leads Vanderbilt in scoring at 18.9 points per game, was held to four points. He had reached 20 or more points for three straight games.

Texas A&M (17-8, 7-5), which lost its fourth-straight game, got 20 points from Marcus Hill. No other Aggie scored in double figures. Zach Clemence finished with nine points, Ali Dibba added nine points and eight rebounds, and Rashaun Agee collected eight points and 11 rebounds.

Ahead by four at the half, Vanderbilt used a flurry of 3-pointers in the opening 4:26 of the second half to built a 50-39 advantage. Nickel dropped in three of the four 3-pointers during that span.

The Commodores extended their lead to 13 points with 13:04 to go on an Okereke jumper in the paint.

The Vanderbilt lead grew to 15 points in the closing two minutes following a corner 3 by Okereke. Okereke made eight of 10 free throws in the final 5:18 to keep the Aggies from coming back.

Vanderbilt trailed by five in the opening minutes but used a 10-0 run late in the opening half to grab a 25-19 lead. The Commodores missed 11 of their first 16 shot attempts before finding their range.

After the scoring run, the Commodores maintained a first-half advantage. Vanderbilt, behind 11 points each from Nickel and McGlockton, led 36-32 at the break.

–Field Level Media

Dylan Darling scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half, leading No. 17 St. John’s to a 79-69 win over host Providence on Saturday afternoon in a game that included a benches-clearing altercation that led to six ejections.

The game changed for good with 14:25 left in regulation. Providence’s Duncan Powell committed a hard foul on former Friar Bryce Hopkins on a breakaway layup. Powell, Jaylin Sellers and Dillon Mitchell were ejected along with Kelvin Odih, Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopoulos, who left the St. John’s bench area.

Following a delay for video review and debriefing, the Red Storm sank three of the four ensuing free throws to start an 8-0 run and take a 47-40 lead. Darling finished that stretch with his first of back-to-back 3-pointers and stole an inbounds pass for a layup.

St. John’s outscored Providence 40-29 to finish.

Darling sank three 3-pointers, went 8 of 9 from the foul line and added eight rebounds en route to a season-best performance for the Red Storm (20-5, 13-1), who extended their win streak to 11 since a Jan. 3 home loss to Providence.

Zuby Ejiofor scored 14 points, Oziyah Sellers added 11 and Hopkins had nine points and nine rebounds to add to the St. John’s attack.

Stefan Vaaks had 20 points, Ryan Mela scored 14 and Jaylin Sellers added 13 for Providence (11-15, 4-11), which has lost six of its last eight.

Before the brawl, Providence had been on a 14-1 run dating back to the final minutes of the first half, with a Jaylin Sellers 3-pointer highlighting the spurt and kicking off a back-and-forth stretch during which the game was tied two other times.

After the altercation, Providence got within four after Vaaks’ outlet feed led to a Jamier Jones three-point play with 13:55 left, but got no closer as Darling scored the game’s next five points and Ejiofor responded to multiple Mela baskets midway through the half.

Oziyah Sellers’ midrange jumper with 5:52 left gave St. John’s a double-digit lead again as part of a 9-3 run that put the game out of reach.

The Red Storm stormed out of the gates, responding to Oswin Erhunmwunse’s opening layup with a 10-0 run. Two Providence turnovers extended the segment, with Hopkins scoring the first of back-to-back baskets off steals.

After Mela’s layup stopped the run, Stu Jackson sank a 3-pointer and turned another turnover into a dunk for a 15-4 St. John’s lead in less than five minutes. A 5-0 burst brought Providence within seven, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Darling and Joson Sanon gave the Storm a 13-point lead.

A Jones three-point play and a Vaaks trey bookended Providence’s longest first-half run, making it 25-20 with 7:09 to play. St. John’s answered a near six-minute field-goal drought with a 9-2 run including a Hopkins transition dunk, but five Jaylin Sellers points and a Powell triple ended the first half.

–Field Level Media

Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points and No. 5 Iowa State’s ferocious defense smothered No. 9 Kansas for a 74-56 Big 12 victory on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, to snap the Jayhawks’ eight-game winning streak.

Joshua Jefferson, Tamin Lipsey, Jamarion Batemon and Blake Buchanan added 11 points apiece for the Cyclones (22-3, 9-3 Big 12), who moved into a third-place tie with the Jayhawks (19-6, 9-3). Jefferson and Lipsey each added four assists while Buchanan grabbed six rebounds.

Iowa State made 11 of 30 (36.7%) from long range while forcing 13 turnovers and limiting Kansas to 37.2% percent shooting from the floor.

Melvin Council Jr. paced Kansas with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Flory Bidunga had 11 points and 13 rebounds, but prized freshman Darryn Peterson was limited to a season-low 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 24 minutes.

Kansas went up 6-2 during a rugged start as Bidunga, Peterson and Bryson Tiller made baskets, but the home crowd came to life when Buchanan threw down a vicious slam dunk off Lipsey’s missed layup at 12:11 to knot it 6-6. Killyan Toure then sank a 24-footer to cap a 9-0 run and give Iowa State its first lead at 11:43.

Council sparked the Jayhawks by canning a trio of three-pointers and adding an alley-oop assist on Bidunga’s dunk to give the visitors a 20-16 lead at the 6:41 mark.

With his team struggling from long range, Jefferson drove past Bidunga on one possession and Peterson on another to make layups while being fouled. Jefferson completed both 3-point plays to make it 29-22 with 3:37 left in the half.

Iowa State forced 10 first-half turnovers and closed the on a 21-7 run to take a 37-27 lead into the break.

Momcilovic, who made 4 of 9 3-point attempts for the day, connected on his first two treys in the opening 90 seconds of the second half before Lipsey hit two from deep for a 49-29 lead at 17:06.

When Momcilovic cashed the Cyclones’ fifth straight 3-point attempt to start the second half, Iowa State held a 52-32 lead with 15:56 to go.

Kansas got as close as 68-56 on Council’s jumper with 4:22 left, but the Jayhawks didn’t score again as Iowa State wrapped up its sixth win in seven games.

–Field Level Media