Pippen Jr. scores 30, Vanderbilt beats Texas St. 79-60

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 24 of his 30 points in the second half to help Vanderbilt pull away for a 79-60 win over Texas State on Sunday night.

Pippen, who had his fourth career game scoring 30-plus points, made two free throws and then converted a 3-point play to spark 26-11 run to close the game. He hit back-to-back 3s to push Vanderbilt’s lead to 17 points with 2:36 to go and, after Caleb Asberry made to free throws, Pippen added a dunk and then another 3-pointer to make it 77-57 with 1:17 to play.

Jordan Wright had 16 points and Myles Stute scored 12, including four 3-pointers, for the Commodores.

Texas State jumped to a 10-2 lead and Asberry hit a 3-pointer that gave the Bobcats a 23-19 lead with 7 minutes left in the first half but Vanderbilt scored 24 of the next 28 points to take the lead for good and make it 43-27 about three minutes into the second half.

Vanderbilt (2-0) went more than 7 minutes without a made field goal as the Bobcats trimmed their deficit to 53-49 with 7:47 to play but Pippen took over.

Mason Harrell scored 16 points and Asberry added 11 for Texas State (1-2).

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