Missouri men's basketball lost the clutch-time manual, looking about as comfortable in the clutch as someone who's never driven a manual.

The No. 14 Tigers paced Vanderbilt for much of Saturday's road game, struggling on the glass but exerting their superiority over a Commodores side that is prone to upsets and playing flawed defense.

With 1:33 to go in regulation, Mizzou (21-8 overall, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) led Vanderbilt (20-9, 8-8) by six points. A couple of gut punches later came overtime, and at the end of the bonus period, another clutch-time blow brought the knockout punch.

More than 32 minutes with the lead meant very little to the minutes that mattered, and MU fell 97-93 to Vanderbilt.

"We played good enough to win the game," Tigers coach Dennis Gates said. "We just didn’t come out down the stretch (and) execute. It’s the madness in March, that’s all it is."

People are also reading…

Neither team suffered from a lack of scoring ability. Guard Caleb Grill led Missouri with 28 points. Forward Mark Mitchell scored 20. Guards Tamar Bates and Anthony Robinson II added 16 apiece, with the latter logging one of his best games in a Mizzou uniform.

Despite being the defender tasked with chasing Grill around the floor, Vanderbilt's Chris Mañon led the 'Dores with 23 points.

The loss, which makes the Tigers 3-6 outside of their home arena this season, is costly for MU's pursuit of a top-four seed in both the NCAA and SEC Tournaments — securing a No. 4 or better spot in either now becomes far less likely.

The Commodores crushed Missouri on the glass, grabbing 11 more total rebounds and six more offensive rebounds than the Tigers. VU's 18 offensive rebounds were the most given up by MU in any game this season.

Mizzou lost the second-chance points category by only three points, though, which reflects how the visitors stayed ahead despite missing the mark in some key areas.

But the final 23 seconds of regulation undid Missouri, which entered that stretch up by four points.

A foul committed by forward Jacob Crews while the 'Dores tried to inbound the ball gave up two points without any time running off the clock, cutting the lead to 77-75.

After Robinson was intentionally fouled and made his pair of free throws, Vanderbilt guard Jason Edwards side-stepped for enough space to fire off a 3-pointer, which dropped. That left the Tigers up by just one with 12 seconds to go.

Grill's turn to be intentionally fouled came and saw him also drain his pair of free throws.

Then, with his team up by three points and nine seconds left in the game, came the head-scratcher. Gates rejected the now-conventional thinking that teams should intentionally foul when leading by three points, forcing the opponent to settle for two free throws than a potentially game-tying 3-pointer.

And what did the Commodores find? A game-tying 3 via Tyler Nickel, who knocked down seven triples Wednesday but was left unattended by the MU defense on the game's most critical possession.

Asked on the Mizzou postgame radio show whether he retrospectively thinks he should have ordered a foul, Gates demurred and said he should've called a timeout to better establish the defensive look, but made no mention of fouling.

"We knew who was going to shoot the ball, and I think we got a little bit disorganized," Gates said. "I got to put our guys in a better spot."

Riding the momentum into overtime, Vanderbilt powered to a seven-point lead — its biggest of the evening — with just over a minute to go in OT. Edwards hit a dagger of a 3-pointer to create that advantage.

Robinson — whose 16 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals made for a vital contribution — nailed an off-balance 3 to cut the Vandy lead back to four points, preserving a slim chance at a comeback.

The intentional foul-free throw dance favored the Commodores, but the Tigers also seemed to waste valuable seconds dawdling around before intentionally fouling — perhaps an error on the alternate side of a clutch-time situation, albeit without much likelihood of winning at that point.

After waiting a respectful minute to allow players to leave the court and thereby avoid a fine, Vanderbilt fans stormed the floor after beating a ranked team inside Memorial Gymnasium for the third time in SEC play.

"We had the lead for over 30 minutes in that game, but credit to Vandy — they did a great job down the stretch, executing," Gates said. "Obviously, I got to do a better job in putting our guys in an organized defensive situation."

Up next

Missouri is on the road again in the midweek, rematching with Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Norman. The Sooners seeming fell onto the wrong side of the bubble by picking up their 12th loss of SEC play on Saturday. MU beat OU 82-58 in Columbia a few weeks ago.

Photos: No. 14 Mizzou men's basketball falls at Vanderbilt in overtime