LORETTO, Pa. - Junior guard Ben Rand scored 19 points, including 17 in the second half, to help rally VMI to a 76-59 win over St. Francis (Pa.) Sunday afternoon in Loretto, Pa.

Jason Conley led all scorers 28 points on 11 of 18 shooting, while Rand finished six of eight from the floor including three of four beyond the arc.

VMI trailed 34-21 at halftime, but hit its first five 3-point shot attempts after intermission to key a 25-11 run. Rand keyed the outburst with a trio of 3-balls in the stretch, while Conley and Richard Little hit the other treys. Keydets took their first lead since early in the first half when Conley hit a pair of free throws to put VMI up 46-45, with 11:41 remaining.

St. Francis briefly took the lead on the next possession when Darshan Luckey hit two free throws to put the Red Flash up by one, but the Keydets took the lead for good when Little hit a layup to give VMI a 48-47 at the 10:49 mark.

VMI, which shot 76.0% (19-25) in the second half after only hitting 36.4% in the first half, led by three points (57-54) when Guy Saragba hot two free throws with 5:12 left, but the Keydets responded with 13-0 run capped by a pair of Rand free throws at the :25 mark. The Keydet lead grew to as much as 18 points (74-56) on a dunk by Zach Batte with :45 remaining.

The Keydets hit nine of 10 free throws in the last 3:22 to slam the door shut.

St. Francis was led by Darshan Luckey with 23 points. Erick Wills added nine points for the Red Flash (1-2).

St. Francis raced to a 9-2 lead by hitting its first three treys and took a 9-2 lead at 18:09 mark, but VMI responded with an 8-0 run to take a brief, 10-9, lead. The Red Flash then reeled off ten unanswered points over over the next four minutes and built a 13-point lead at intermission. The Keydets aided their opponents by committing 13 first-half turnovers, but calmed down with just eight turnovers in the second half.

VMI outscored the Red Flash 55-25 in the second half and held them to 25.% (7-28) from the field. St Francis finished the game 41.9% from the field.

The Keydets (2-1) face Virginia Tech Thursday night in Blacksburg at 7:00 p.m. St. Francis plays Youngstown St. Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "We had a small, hardcore group of alumni and fans that were really rowdy behind our bench. That really helped. I don't think our kids ever quit They really bounced back. We won this game on the defensive end which created opportunities. We did the little things well like rebounding and free throw shooting. It's amazing that we took just 47 shots but ended up with our most points on the year. It was a great effort. It was cold up here today and little hard to get going, but maybe we grew up a little bit today. I was pleased with our shot selection - we had five players go 50% or better from the floor."