Vanderbilt sophomore Scotty Pippen Jr. scored a career-high 25 points and dished out four assists, helping break open a close game and leading the Commodores to a 77-71 victory over Valparaiso on Friday in Nashville.

Maxwell Evans added 16 points for Vanderbilt, which hit 23 of 27 free-throw attempts (85.2 percent) while winning its season opener.

Mileek McMillan (18 points), Donovan Clay (14) and Ben Krikke (13) led the Crusaders, who also were playing their first game of the season.

Valparaiso scored the first four points of the second half to break a halftime tie.

Vanderbilt then went on a small run before McMillan's long 3-pointer from the left side -- his first points of the second half -- put Valparaiso up 53-50. A Daniel Sackey steal and fastbreak layup out of a timeout extended the lead to five.

Vanderbilt retook the lead with 4:24 left when Pippen hit a pair of foul shots, and he added two more with 3:59 to go for a 63-59 edge. He then picked off a pass and sprinted for a lay-in 20 seconds later.

An Evans 3-pointer from the right corner put the Commodores up by seven. DJ Harvey beat the shot clock with a mid-range jumper with 1:37 left to make it 70-61.

It looked like a first game for both teams early as the Crusaders had seven turnovers and the Commodores gave the ball away five times in the first 8:03.

Valparaiso took its first lead at 11-8 when Sigurd Lorange hit a fastbreak trey with 12:47 left in the first half.

The Commodores went on a run from there. Evans broke free down the lane and took a feed from Pippen for an easy layup to put Vanderbilt up 30-22 with 2:49 left in the half, the biggest lead for either team to that point.

Vanderbilt extended the lead another point, but Valparaiso clawed back, with help by a pair of McMillan 3-pointers. The last was a halftime buzzer-beater from a few feet behind the arc to tie the game at 34.

Vanderbilt played 12 men and Valparaiso used 11.

--Field Level Media