LEXINGTON, VA. - Junior point guard Richard Little dished out a career-high 12 assists to help lead VMI to a 68-54 win over Liberty University Saturday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.

Little tied the Cameron Hall record for assists set originally by guard Mike Huffman against Hampden Sydney on December 8, 1984.

VMI sophomore forward Jason Conley scored 23 points to lead all scorers. The nation's leading scorer from a year ago, Conley did not register his first point until the 11:00 mark of the first half, but finished the frame with nine points. He completed the game seven of 13 from the field with four rebounds, but was an uncharacteristic eight of 14 from the charity stripe.

The Keydets (1-0) also got double figures scoring from junior forward Radee Skipworth and junior guard Ben Rand, who each scored 13 points.

Liberty freshman guard Jeremy Monceaux led the Flames with 12 points while Vincent Okotie had 10 points.

VMI started the game by missing 16 of its first 19 shots, yet never fell behind by more than four points in the first half. The Keydets warmed up by hitting 8 of its last 11 shots from the field in the period, and assumed a 28-25 lead at intermission.

The Keydets began the second half with a 9-2 run and took its first 10-point lead on a three-point play by Skipworth at the 15:48 mark. The Flames sliced the margin to seven (41-34) on a 3-pointer by Ryan Mantio with 12:03 left, but VMI responded with an 8-2 spurt to push the lead back to 16 points when Conley rammed in a 3-pointer with 9:41 remaining.

The Flames could never shave the deficit within 10 points the rest of the way as VMI took its biggest lead, 64-47, on a pair of free throws by Little with 1:30 left.

Liberty (0-1) shot just 32.6 % from the game and missed its first 11 three-point attempts of the contest before finishing regulation 2 of 18 beyond the arc. The Keydets shot just 36.7% in the first half, but improved to 45.8% from the field in the second half. VMI struggled at the charity stripe, hitting 21 of 35 for the afternoon.

VMI held the advantage on the boards, 37-32, and was led by Little with seven rebounds. Jason Sarchet paced the Flames with eight rebounds.

The teams combined for a Cameron Hall record-tying 55 fouls set on two previous occasions. The 14 field goals scored by Liberty was also a new facility record for fewest field goals in a game, originally set by VMI against Virginia in Cameron Hall's first game on December 5, 1981.

VMI starts the first of three consecutive road games Monday night against Tennessee in Knoxville. Tipoff will be 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by Fox Sports Net South. It will also be carried on the internet on vmikeydets.com beginning at 7:15 p.m.