ATHENS -- Georgia certainly didn't help its argument for the NCAA tournament on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs failed to hold a 14-point, second-half lead in Stegeman Coliseum, going scoreless from the field for almost the game’s final 10 minutes and losing to Vanderbilt 64-56.
Georgia led 40-26 with 14:34 to play and 53-40 with 9:47 to play. After that, the Bulldogs mustered only three free throws and were outscored 24-3.
"We've just got to keep playing all 40 minutes," forward Travis Leslie said. "If we do that throughout the whole game, we could have won. I thought we got a little complacent in the second half and let them back into it."
The game ended with the crowd and coach Mark Fox expressing their displeasure with the referees for calls made and not made. A few fans threw debris onto the court, and others taunted the officials as they were escorted off the court by police. Fox drew a technical foul in the waning seconds.
"I just voiced some frustration," he said later.
It was a game Georgia badly needed to win. A victory over Vanderbilt, ranked No. 18 in the polls and No. 15 in the RPI, would have put the Bulldogs in sole possession of second place in the SEC East and in pretty good shape on the NCAA tournament bubble.
Instead, Georgia (17-8, 6-5 SEC) dropped into a three-way tie with Tennessee and Kentucky for third place in the division and probably needs to win three of its final five regular-season games to be in favorable position on the bubble.
"That's a tough loss," Fox said.
Vanderbilt (19-6, 7-4) took over second place in the division with a comeback built on 3-point sharpshooting. The Commodores made nine of 12 3-pointers in the second half, including four on a 12-0 run that quickly cut their deficit from 13 points (53-40) to one (53-52).
Vanderbilt took a 57-55 lead on a John Jenkins' basket with 2:51 remaining -- the Commodores' first lead since the game's opening minutes. A missed runner by Travis Leslie with 21 seconds to play and Georgia still down two points pretty much ended the Bulldogs' chances.
"It was a good look," Leslie said. "Just didn't make it."
Vanderbilt scored six points from the free-throw line to close out the game.
Jenkins, the SEC's leading scorer, inexplicably was held scoreless through the game's first 26 minutes but erupted for 21 points in the final 14 minutes, including five 3-pointers.
Georgia had other problems. Vanderbilt outrebounded the Bulldogs 49-32 for the game, including 23-9 on the offensive boards. And Georgia's best player, Trey Thompkins, had another shaky night, going 2-for-10 from the floor and scoring a season-low eight points.
"Trey had a hard time getting good looks," Fox said.
The game was the second in a row in which Georgia blew a sizeable lead. The Bulldogs saw a 23-point, second-half lead at South Carolina last Saturday dwindle to two points before they escaped with a four-point victory. This time, a 14-point lead turned into an eight-point loss.
Asked to explain the inability to hold leads, guard Gerald Robinson, who led Georgia in scoring with 15 points, said: "I really don't know the answer to that."
Georgia's next two games are on the road-- Saturday at Tennessee and Feb. 24 at Florida. The Bulldogs lost at home to both teams earlier in the season, falling to the Vols on a buzzer-beating put-back and to the Gators in double overtime.
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