Foster’s career night carries Vanderbilt

Shan Foster saved his best for his final home game.

Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer had a career-high 42 points and hit his final nine 3-point attempts, the last with 2.7 seconds left in overtime, to help the 16th-ranked Commodores to an 86-85 victory over Mississippi State on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn.

The Senior Night victory allowed Vanderbilt (25-5, 10-5) to finish unbeaten at home this season and kept alive its chances at a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament starting next week in Atlanta.

The Commodores finished 19-0 in Memorial Gym where they have won 32 of 33 games.

Jamont Gordon had 24 points for the Bulldogs (20-9, 11-4), who clinched the SEC West title last weekend with a win at Florida. Mississippi State, which had a three-game win streak snapped, needed a victory to have any chance at winning the overall league title.

(2) Memphis 72, SMU 55: Derrick Rose scored 19 points and Chris Douglas-Roberts added 18, leading the Tigers (29-1, 15-0 Conference USA) over the Mustangs (9-19, 3-12) in Dallas.

Memphis ran its road winning streak to 18 and finished unbeaten on the road for the first time since 1960-61, going 10-0.

This was the Tigers’ 38th straight league victory and the 100th Conference USA win for coach John Calipari. He is 100-25 in eight seasons with the Tigers.

(4) Tennessee 89, Florida 86: JaJuan Smith scored 23 points and Chris Lofton added 21 as the Volunteers (27-3, 13-2 SEC) overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Gators (21-9, 8-7) in Gainesville, Fla.

The Volunteers set a school record for victories and may have knocked the two-time defending national champions out of the NCAA tournament picture.

The Gators have lost six of their last 10 and might need to win the SEC tournament to earn a 10th consecutive NCAA berth.

(6) Duke 86, Virginia 70: Gerald Henderson scored 19 points and Duke (26-3, 13-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat the Cavaliers (14-14, 4-11) in Charlottesville, Va., setting up this weekend’s showdown between the Blue Devils and top-ranked North Carolina for the ACC regular-season championship.

(10) Wisconsin 77, Penn State 41: Marcus Landry scored 15 points and the Badgers (25-4, 15-2) trounced the Nittany Lions (14-15, 6-11) in Madison, Wis., to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.

(18) Indiana 69, Minnesota 55: Eric Gordon scored nine of his 20 points during a decisive late run, leading the Hoosiers (25-5, 14-3 Big Ten) past the Golden Gophers (18-11, 8-9) in Bloomington, Ind.

It was Indiana’s school-record 17th home victory this season.

(19) Notre Dame 68, St. John’s 55: Luke Harangody scored 20 points and the Fighting Irish (23-6, 13-4) beat the Red Storm (11-18, 5-12) in South Bend, Ind., to become the first Big East team to go undefeated at home in conference play in consecutive seasons.