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  Friday, Dec. 15 8:30pm ET
Victor, Woods lead Vols to victory
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Fourth-ranked Tennessee hadn't played in a week, and the Volunteers showed the rust from their layoff. Then, Terrence Woods came off the bench and woke them up.

Harris Walker
Middle Tennessee's D'Marius Wilkes, left, looks to pick the pocket of Harris Walker.
The sophomore guard scored 14 of his career-high 21 points in the first half as the Vols beat Middle Tennessee State 99-83 on Friday night at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

"He was critical," Tennessee coach Jerry Green said of Woods. "It's almost a surprise when Terrence misses a shot."

Isaiah Victor also had 21 as the Vols (9-0) survived their first test after moving up to their highest ranking since being ranked fourth in January 1968. They needed the boost from Woods despite the mostly orange crowd in what technically was a home game for Middle Tennessee (3-5).

The Blue Raiders led by as many as seven in the first half, but couldn't keep pace once the Vols finally kicked it into high gear with a 22-0 run that started with 2:15 left in the first half and stretched into the second.

"Tennessee is deep, and they kept throwing bodies and numbers at us," Middle Tennessee coach Randy Wiel said. "For the most part, we did what we set out to do."

Woods finished 5-for-6 from 3-point range and 6-for-9 overall in 20 minutes. Ron Slay added 16, and Vincent Yarbrough had 12 as Tennessee's reserves outscored the Blue Raiders' 47-40.

Marcus Haislip started the spurt that not even a 10-minute delay at the beginning of the second half to replace a broken shot clock could slow. Pressing up and down the floor, they forced Middle Tennessee into four turnovers in the first 75 seconds of the second half.

"Their press defense was pretty effective. Normally, I could say we didn't rebound or we made turnovers. But that wasn't the case. I just think it was their press," Wiel said.

The Blue Raiders finished with 22 turnovers despite shooting 48 percent from the floor and outrebounding the Vols 42-39. Iiro Tenngren and Demario Watson each had 14 for Middle Tennessee, and Freddie Martinez and Bryant Mitchell each added 11.

It was so bad at the beginning of the second half that Middle Tennessee's Dale Thomas threw a deep inbounds pass away, while Yarbrough stole the Blue Raiders' next inbounds attempt. Slay finally capped the spurt with a free throw for a 53-37 lead with 15:05 left.

The Vols led by as much as 23 points, taking a 95-72 advantage into the final minutes.

Slay, from Nashville, provided the highlight of the game in the second half. Haislip missed a jumper, and Slay jumped high and tipped it in off the backboard. The Vols stole the ball again off the inbounds and fed Slay, who gently laid it in for the bucket. He celebrated under the basket with a little dance, drawing a technical.

Green said Slay had been busy with the cell phone all day long, and Slay said playing at home energized him a lot.

"Coach told me to calm down a few times," Slay said.

The game started like a mirror image of the last three games played in the series, which were decided by a total of nine points.

The teams swapped the lead with four ties through the first 11 minutes. Then Tennessee quit trying to get the ball inside and tried to keep up with Middle Tennessee from outside and fell behind by as much as 33-26 with 5:29 left on a 3 by Martinez.

But the Blue Raiders, who hit six of their first eight 3s, didn't hit another down the stretch, while Woods hit all four of the Vols' 3s in the half, including two in the final 56 seconds for a 39-37 halftime lead.
 


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