Chaz Lanier poured in 23 points, 19 of them in a dominating first half, as No. 8 Tennessee defeated Texas 83-72 on Thursday afternoon in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal clash in Nashville.Tennessee (26-6), the fourth seed in the tournament, advances to play No. 3 Auburn, the top-seeded team in this event, in the semifinals on Saturday. Thirteenth-seeded Texas (19-15) will have to sweat out the next few days before learning if it has earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament that begins next week.The Volunteers led by just three points at halftime but expanded their advantage to 65-50 on a free throw by Zakai Zeigler with 9:54 to play.The Longhorns closed to within 75-65 when Chendall Weaver converted two free throws with 3:43 left. Texas would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, eventually succumbing to the effects of playing its third game in as many days.Zeigler finished with 19 points, all in the second half, with Jahmai Mashack scoring 13 and Igor Milicic Jr. adding 12 points for Tennessee.Jordan Pope and Kadin Shedrick had 14 points apiece to lead the Longhorns. Tre Johnson, the SEC Freshman of the Year and the conference’s leading scorer in the regular season, finished with 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting.