LEXINGTON, Va. - Senior guard Lee Nixon scored 26 points, including a jumper with one second left in regulation to force overtime, to lead Wofford over VMI, 94-93, in overtime Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall in Lexington.
The Terrier triumph spoiled a career-high 37 points by VMI junior forward Radee Skipworth, who also scored 33 points Tuesday night in a setback at East Tennessee. Skipworth has produced career-high scoring performances his last two games.
VMI junior guard Richard Little hit a jumper with 3.9 seconds in regulation to put VMI up 80-78, but Nixon took the inbounded ball after a Terrier timeout and drove the right wing before nailing the equalizer with a pullup jumper with under a second left in regulation. The Keydets could only inbound as time expired in regulation.
In the overtime, Sam Daniels nailed a 21-foot three-point shot from left side to put the Terriers up for good, 91-88, with 40.6 seconds left.
Little missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and fouled Howard Wilkerson, who converted one of two free throws with 20.9 seconds left to put the Terriers up, 92-88. Little's layup with seven seconds left sliced the Terrier lead to 92-90, but Nixon converted two free throws after being fouled on the inbounds pass to make it a two-possession game with 6.6 seconds remaining. Little's 3-pointer with two seconds left cut the lead to 94-93, but VMI had exhausted timeouts and could not stop the clock as Wofford inbounded.
The Terriers (10-10, 6-4), who built a 43-33 intermission lead after shooting 68% in the first half, increased their lead to as much as 15 points (50-35) on a Daniels 3-pointer with 18:05 left.
VMI mounted a comeback with a 7-0 spurt that sparked a 24-8 run over the next eight minutes. A Skipworth layup with 10:07 left gave VMI its first lead (59-58) off the second half, and the lead increased to as much a six points (67-61) on a Tadas Mankevicius layup with 5:21 left in regulation.
Nixon led a Wofford countercharge with a back-to-back 3-pointer and layup to pull the Terriers within one, 67-66, with 4:28 remaining in the second half.
VMI (6-15, 1-9) shot 41.9% in the first half, but heated up to 70.8% in the second half on 17 of 24 shooting.
The Terriers placed five in double figures scoring. Joining Nixon was Daniels (19), Borders (12), Howard Wilkerson (12), and Mike Lenzly (11).
Little, the SoCon's leading assist man, added 13 points and dished out a career-high tying 12 assists which matched the Cameron Hall record dozen dishes he logged against Liberty in the season opener on November 23, 2002.
Skipworth hit 12 of 22 shots from the field and pulled down 11 rebounds to register his first double-double of the year.
VMI had not played an overtime game since a 97-91 win at Western Carolina on February 9, 2002.
VMI faces Appalachian State Monday night in Boone, N.C. at 7:00 p.m., while Wofford travels to take on Chattanooga Monday night at 7:00 p.m.
VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "I want to give Wofford a lot of credit because they could have folded down there at the end and they didn't. That's a sign of good players and coaching. We've handled a lot of adversity this year and our players are still fighting. I felt that if we could have gotten this one , we could roll off a few. But it's been one of those years. Radee Skipworth was a warrior and all our kids are playing hard. I thought our big men toughened up in the second half and took it at them. If we can play the whole game like we did in the second half, we can win the Southern Conference."
WOFFORD COACH MIKE YOUNG - "We played smart in a snakepit of a place to play. It is very difficult to win here. I credit VMI for the second half run that got them back in the game. Radee Skipworth is a terrific, terrific player."
