Late foul dooms Vanderbilt in overtime loss at No. 21 Kentucky

For the bulk of Tuesday night, it appeared as though Vanderbilt was going to land its biggest victory of a mostly disappointing 2017-18 season.

The Commodores led No. 21 Kentucky by as many as 14 points in the second half. Despite seeing that lead trimmed to one with under two minutes to go, Bryce Drew’s team still managed to own a 70-65 advantage with 27 seconds to go.

Then, the visitors unraveled.

Joe Toye fouled Kentucky’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who promptly buried both of his free throws. Riley LaChance, an 83.3 percent free-throw shooter, bricked the front end of a 1-and-1 on the other end. After a Quade Green layup cut the lead to 1, Vandy still appeared poised to walk out of Rupp Arena with a victory. Jeff Roberson missed the second of two free throws, but a loose ball rebound took several precious seconds off the clock.

With the ball finally in hand, Kentucky’s only hope to avoid an embarrassing loss seemed to be a heave from beyond halfcourt. Until Toye did the one thing you simply cannot do in that situation and plowed right over Gilgeous-Alexander.

The UK freshman cooly sank both free throws to send the game into overtime. A back-and-forth extra period ended with Kentucky prevailing 83-81 thanks to a Quade Green layup in the closing seconds.

Toye’s late-game error reminded many of last year’s NCAA tournament, when Vanderbilt’s Matthew Fisher-Davis mistakenly fouled Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh thinking his team still had a foul to give. They didn’t, and McIntosh’s two free throws wound up being the difference in a 67-66 first-round win for the Wildcats.

Kentucky improved to 17-5 overall and 6-3 in the SEC with the win. Vandy dropped to 8-14 overall and just 2-7 in the conference.