NORFOLK, Va. Arnaud Dahi scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds and Alex Laughton added 17 points and 10 rebounds as Old Dominion rolled to an 86-38 win over VMI Wednesday night before 4,495 spectators at the Ted Constant Center.
The Monarchs, fresh off a title win in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi challenge last week, improved to 5-1 and handed VMI its first loss of the season.
The Keydets (2-1) committed 26 turnovers and did not place a player in double figures scoring. Freshman forward Reggie Williams scored nine points to lead VMI.
VMI's Tim Allmond hit a jumper five minutes into the game to cut the ODU lead to 9-8, but that would be as close as the Keydets would come the rest of the night. The Monarchs gradually built the lead with a 15-8 run over the next seven minutes - then reeled off 12 unanswered points late in the first half to help build a 41-23 halftime advantage.
Old Dominion, playing without leading scorer Isaih Hunter whose father passed away this week, outscored VMI 7-0 over the first four minutes of the second half before the Keydets got their first points on a Reggie Williams free throw with 15:54 left. The Keydets managed just 15 points for the frame while ODU shot 58% in the second half and built as much as a 51-point lead with :50 remaining in the game.
The Monarchs blocked a school record 17 shots and were led by 7-3 Sam Harris who had seven rejections.
The Keydets shot 27.6% for the game and were outrebounded 40-33.
VMI faces Virginia Tech Saturday at Cameron Hall at 2:00 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Net in the Mid Atlantic region.
Head Coach Bart Bellairs - "It was just uninspired. We did everything we could do wrong. We didn't shoot the ball, we didn't run our offense. I really don't have a answer for it right now. We played completely opposite from what we played at Navy. I'll give Old Dominion credit - they're a great shooting team and they make you make mistakes. We had a lot of mental mistakes. I don't know if we thought we were a lot better than we were because we're 2-0 and thought we would just show up and beat a very good basketball team. I was disappointed in our offensive execution more than anything.
