The Georgia men’s basketball team moved out of last place in the SEC, passing Arkansas, with its 61-57 victory over Vanderbilt Wednesday night.

Georgia guard Ricky McPhee gave the Bulldogs (11-17, 2-11) the lift they needed to finish off the Commodores, draining a 3 with 2:22 left to take the lead for good.

The Bulldogs led by as much as 13 in the second half, 48-35, with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Commodores (16-11, 5-8) reversed their fortune, using a 19-4 run to take the lead.

McPhee’s 3 ended the run, giving Georgia a 56-54 lead.

“We got a good rebound and we were pushing the ball and I got lost in transition,” McPhee said. “Luckily I was trailing on the play and my teammates found me and I knocked down the shot.”

McPhee’s dagger was the lightning bolt Georgia needed, after a here-we-go-again feeling had fallen over Stegeman Colisieum.

“We focused on just remaining composed,” said Georgia senior Corey Butler. “We’ve been in that situation way too many times. We should’ve learned from this a long time ago. Actually this time we said there was no reason why we shouldn’t win this game, and we did.”

Georgia sealed the game, hitting five of eight shots from the free-throw line in the final 1:17 of play.

“I thought we played well for a good

25 minutes and they started making their run, as most good teams do,” said Georgia point guard Dustin Ware. “But we kept fighting.”

The first half was a testament to Georgia’s willingness to perform on the defensive end. The Bulldogs weren’t scoring on a consistent basis, but held Vanderbilt to 25 percent shooting, 6-24, to take a 34-23 lead at halftime.

“Our whole objective was to put a lot of pressure on all of their players when they had the ball and make sure we ramped up the aggressiveness,” said Georgia interim coach Pete Herrmann.

The aggression was evident in the foul column as Georgia was whistled for 10 team fouls, with four players receiving two. The foul situation was seen as a positive by the Bulldogs.

“The best thing that happened for us was the big guys getting in foul trouble early on,” Butler said. “There was nothing wrong with that because it showed the aggressiveness and it set the tone for the whole game.”

Reserve forward Chris Barnes was the surprise of the first half, scoring seven points off the bench, including a monster dunk over 6-foot-11 Commodore forward A.J. Ogilvy. Barnes finished with nine points after cramping up in the second half.

Georgia will travel to Arkansas this Saturday, charged with the task of remaining ahead of the Razorbacks in the SEC.

“You just dream about that as a little kid playing in SEC games like that,” McPhee said. “I couldn’t ask for anything else to be out there to win the game for us. The last 1:30 felt like an eternity but we got the win.”