Georgia records victory

NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- Trey Thompkins had 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead Georgia past Arkansas 77-64 on Thursday night in the final game of the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

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Travis Leslie added 21 points while Ricky McPhee and Dustin Ware had 10 each for the Bulldogs (14-16).

Michael Washington scored 20 points to lead Arkansas (14-18).

Georgia advances to play No. 20 Vanderbilt tonight in the quarterfinals.

NO. 15 TENNESSEE 59, LOUISIANA STATE 49

Wayne Chism had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tennessee overcame its worst first half of the season to beat Louisiana State.

With the teams tied at 30, Cameron Tatum stretched across the lane to hit a layup with 14:28 left and launch a 16-4 run for Tennessee (24-7). J.P. Prince dunked off an alley-oop pass from Brian Williams to extend the Vols' lead to 46-34, their largest margin of the game.

LSU (11-20) held Tennessee to 25.9 percent from the floor in the first half, the Vols worst shooting performance of any half this season. Tennessee also committed 17 turnovers.

Still, the Tigers couldn't take advantage of the Vols' struggles after scoring 11 off the giveaways and finishing with 36.4 percent shooting.

LSU's Tasmin Mitchell entered the game needing 21 points to reach 2,000 but finished with 10 to end his career with 1,989.

Tennessee advances to play Mississippi, the West's No. 2 seed, today.

FLORIDA 78, AUBURN 69

Alex Tyus scored 24 points, and Florida snapped a three-game skid.

Coach Billy Donovan didn't want to discuss how many wins his Gators need to ensure their first NCAA Tournament berth since they won their second consecutive national title in 2007.

Now Florida (21-11), already 7-0 against the SEC West, has a chance to add another win tonight against Mississippi State, the West's No. 1 seed, in the quarterfinals.

Auburn (15-17) now has lost 12 of 13 games to Florida in what could be coach Jeff Lebo's final game with the Tigers.