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VMI Basketball Falls, 81-56 at College of Charleston

Charleston, S.C. -- Troy Wheless scored 21 points and Joe Weurding added 13 pacing the College of Charleston to an 81-56 win over VMI in Southern Conference men's college basketball action before 3,537 Monday night at John Kresse Arena.

With the win, Charleston's fourth in a row, the Cougars improved to 15-5 overall. The Cougars take over sole possession of first place in the SoCon's South Division with a 5-2 league mark. The Keydets fell to 6-12 and 1-6.

Radee Skipworth scored the first 13 points for VMI as the Keydets took their final lead of the game at 13-12 with 12:17 left in the opening half. Esau Eatman's layup with 2:39 left in the first half was the first field goal by a VMI player other than Skipworth. Charleston closed the opening stanza with an 18-10 run to take a 30-23 lead at intermission.

After VMI cut the margin to 30-25 on a field goal by Mike Gilbert, Charleston used three 3-pointers from Weurding to ignite a 22-6 run and take a 52-31 advantage with 12:37 remaining.

Charleston, which had a season-high 21 assists, shot a season-high 61.8 percent in the second half hitting on 21-of-34 from the field, including eight 3-pointers in 17 attempts. For the game, the Cougars shot 52.4 percent from the floor, while limiting VMI to just 30.9 percent shooting.

Wheless, who was 8-of-13 from the field, hit four 3-pointers giving him the school's single-season record of 57. As a team the Cougars hit 12 3-pointers and tied the school's single-season mark of 169 set last season.

Charleston point guard A.J. Harris had seven assists and no turnovers and moved into second place on the school's all-time assists list with 434. He trails current New Jersey Nets guard Anthony Johnson (1993-97) who finished his career with 520.

Mike Benton added his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while tying his career-high with six blocked shots.

Skipworth finished with 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Keydets. Richard Little added 14 points and six assists.

Both teams play SoCon games on the road at 2:00 on Saturday. Charleston is at Georgia Southern, while VMI travels to Furman.
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