No. 14 Mississippi State won its Southeastern Conference road opener with a 76-64 win at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday.RJ Melendez (19 points), Cameron Matthews (16) and Claudell Harris (13) led the Bulldogs (14-1, 2-0) in scoring.AJ Hoggard (18), Grant Huffman (12) and Tyler Nickel (10) paced the Commodores (13-2, 1-1) in points.The Bulldogs capitalized a distinct advantage in size, quickness and athleticism on both ends of the floor, snapping Vanderbilt’s seven-game winning streak and handing the Commodores their first home loss.Offensively for Mississippi State, that meant driving the ball relentlessly from several positions on the floor, with Melendez particularly having success off the dribble.Defensively, that meant holding Vanderbilt — the country’s 34th-ranked offense in adjusted efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy — to 35.5 percent field-goal shooting and just 11 assists against 13 turnovers.The Bulldogs held Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt’s leading scorer (18.3 points per game), scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting in 11 minutes. Edwards played through a thigh contusion suffered on Saturday at LSU.MSU’s Harris hit an open 3 from the right side, giving the Bulldogs a 14-point lead (42-28) on the opening possession of the second half.The lead became 20 for the first time when Melendez, standing on the left side behind the 3-point line, saw daylight in the middle of the paint and drove in for a thunderous, two-handed dunk for a 52-32 Bulldogs lead.