LEXINGTON, Va. - Despite missing three consecutive one-and-ones in the final 34.5 seconds of regulation, VMI successfully protected its one-point lead to escape with a 61-60 win over UNC Greensboro before 3,229 spectators at Cameron Hall Saturday in the Senior Day home season finale.
It also marked the final Southern Conference basketball game played in Lexington as VMI will move to the Big South Conference next year.
The dramatic finished unfolded in the final seconds when the Keydets, leading 61-60, missed its third straight one-and-one in the game's final minute when Ben Rand misfired the front end with 4.9 seconds left. The rebounded ball was tipped out of bounds by VMI with 2.4 seconds left. After timeouts called by both teams, UNCG's Jay Joseph fired a pass from the backcourt baseline to the front court, and a holding foul was whistled on VMI freshman guard Levar Joseph with no time expired on the clock. UNCG freshman guard Danny Hargrove, a 62% foul shooter on the season, missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Spartans rebounded but could not launch a shot as the buzzer sounded to end the game.
VMI placed three players in double figures scoring and was led by Rand with 13 points including three of five shooting from 3-point range. Junior forward Radee Skipworth added 12 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore forward Preston Beverly celebrated his 20th birthday one day early by scoring a career-high 10 points on four of five shooting from the field.
UNC Greensboro (7-19, 3-11) was led by junior guard Jay Joseph with 17 points while sophomore forward Luke Gross added 16 points.
The game saw eight lead changes and five ties before before an 8-2 spurt converted a one-point Keydet deficit into a 47-42 lead when Beverly capped the run with 12:25 left in regulation. The lead grew to as much as seven points (55-48) when Levar Joseph nailed a 3-pointer at the 8:45 mark.
The Spartans rallied with a 12-6 run and sliced the lead to 61-60 when Gross hit a layup with 25.1 seconds left in regulation. The Keydets added to the dramatics when Skipworth missed a one-and-one at the 34.5 second mark, and senior guard Richard Little failed to convert a one-and-one with 24.5 seconds left.
The Keydets held a 37-28 advantage on the boards and hit three of six 3-point attempts in the second half. UNCG was equally as impressive from long range shooting in the second half, going 5 of 11 beyond the arc after missing all six trey attempts in the first half. UNCG canned 11 of 13 from the stripe for the contest.
VMI (7-18, 2-11) snapped an eight-game losing string and also ended a run of seven straight setbacks to the Spartans. VMI's other conference win, coincidentally, was by the same 61-60 score over Davidson at Cameron Hall on Jan. 21.
With eight assists on the day, Little, ranked sixth in Division I in assists, became the new school season record holder in assists with 179, surpassing Bobby Prince's 173 mark set in 1995.
The pregame ceremonies included a ceremony commemorating the life of Chad Kenna, the VMI basketball player and golf athlete who graduated in 2002 and died of a heart ailment last August. The Kenna family was on hand at Cameron Hall to receive the tribute. The Keydets had dedicated the 2002-03 season in Chad's memory.
VMI travels to face military college rival The Citadel Monday in Charleston at 7:15 p.m. UNC Greensboro will close out its home slate Monday night at Fleming Gym against Appalachian State at 7:00 p.m.
VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "We missed free throws and we could have put it away and then got called for the hold. It was almost the epitomy of the season right there. We lacked some comminication in crunch time and gave them wide open looks, but all in all I thought we played great. We got ahead ourselves some offensively , but our guys are seeing it - they now say "Yeah, coach, we need to slow it down some." I was proud of the effort. We had good cuts away from the basketball, and Ben (Rand) hit some shots that got them out of the zone they were running. I was proud of all our guys. If I can get Preston Beverly to utilize his quickness as well as his strength, he can do some great things."
