LEXINGTON, Va. - Junior forward Radee Skipworth tied a career high with 29 points to lead VMI past UVA-Wise, 77-66, Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.
Skipworth, who was slowed by a deep-thigh bruise in VMI's first four games, hit 10 of 16 shots from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds to lead all scorers. Sophomore guard Jason Conley posted his second double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
VMI, coming off a tough 71-66 setback at Virginia Tech Thursday night, had trouble shaking the pesky Cavaliers. There were two ties and six lead changes before the Keydets went on a 13-0 run to build a 25-14 after Skipworth's trey at the 8:14 mark.
But the Cavaliers (8-3) answered with a 21-8 run capped by nine straight points to retake the lead, 35-33, on a Ricky Brown 3-pointer with 3:03 left in the half. VMI responded with an 8-0 run to take a 41-35 lead into intermission.
The Keydets scored the first eight points of the second half to push the margin to 47-35 following a Zach Batte dunk with 16:35 left, and stretched the lead to as much as 15 points three more times in regulation. The Cavaliers sliced the lead to 73-64 on a 3-pointer by Bobby Hedrick with :51 left, but could not move closer.
VMI outrebounded UVA-Wise 43-25 for the game and shot 50% from the field in the second half to finish the game at 49%.
Senior forward Zack Moore led the Cavaliers with 19 points and junior guard Tony McDonald added 15 points. UVA-Wise hit 11 of 25 three-point attempts, but had four players foul out of the contest.
Junior guard Richard Little, who ranked second in the nation in assists earlier in the week, had eight for the game followed by Ben Rand's seven assists.
Skipworth matched his career-high of 29 points set earlier at Morehead State on November 25, 2001.
VMI (3-2) will travel to Lynchburg Tuesday night to face Liberty at 7:00 p.m. The teams met earlier on Nov. 23 with VMI prevaling, 68-54, in the season opener for both teams.
HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "I give UVA-Wise a lot of credit. They're well coached - they run great back-door cuts, and they weren't awed coming in here, and they shot the ball extremely well. I worried after Tech about our mental state because we played so hard on Thursday. We were a step slow early and we didn't shoot the ball extremely well and it seemed like we put them on the free throw line 150 times in the second half. We turned up our defensive intensity when we had to and got the ball inside in the second half. We're going to have to play much, much better basketball at Liberty Tuesday night. But if we don't move our legs and get mentally ready...I think we will...but we've got our work cut out for us. "
