LEXINGTON, Va. - Freshman guard Matt Coward (Richmond, Va.) led four VMI players in double figures scoring with a career-high 17 points to lead VMI to a 61-52 Big South Conference upset of Liberty before 3,143 fans Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.
The Keydets (6-19, 4-10) won for the first time in the month of February and snapped a five-game losing skid while halting Liberty's seven-game winning streak. The Flames, who entered the game having locked up the #1 seed for the Big South Tournament, fell to 14-13, and 11-4.
Coward was joined in double figures scoring by senior forward Radee Skipworth with 14 points, while senior point guard Richard Little and freshman forward Matt Murrer each scored 12 points.
The Keydets limited the Flames to 35.7% shooting from the field and registered a season-low nine turnovers on the afternoon.
Freshman David Dees, who scored 22 points in Liberty's 66-46 win over the Keydets Jan. 20 at the Vines Center, led the Flames Saturday with 15 points while senior forward Louvon Sneed added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"I think our kids really wanted to win today and I could see it in their eyes,"said VMI head coach Bart Bellairs. "No matter what happened to us , I think we were going to find a way. It we can have nine turnovers a game, we can win most games because our offensive execution is pretty good."
The game started with seven lead changes in the first four minutes of the game, but the Keydets broke a 12-12 tie to take the lead for good on a Murrer layup at the 13:02 mark. VMI built its first half lead to as much as nine points, 27-18, on a Skipworth jumper with 1:53 left, but Liberty sliced the deficit to 27-22 at halftime.
The Keydets pushed the lead to 37-26 on a Tim Allmond jumper at the 13:11 mark in the second half, but Liberty, behind three consecutive 3-pointers by David Dees, went on a 13-6 run to cut the VMI lead to 43-39 with 6:41 remaining.
VMI countered with eight straight points on a Murrer dunk, two Coward layups, and a Little layup to assume a 51-39 lead with 4:06 left, and the Keydets were never seriously threatened the rest of the way despite hitting only eight of 16 free throws in the final 2:25 of regulation.
The Keydets were edged on the boards, 36-32, but limited Flame leading scorer Gabe Martin (14.0 PPG) to just four points. Martin did not score until the 2:56 mark of the second half.
Little dished out a game-high eights assists to push his career total to a school-leading 584 for his career.
Allmond, who missed Monday's CSU game after re-spraining his left ankle last Saturday night at Coastal Carolina, played 23 minutes and grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds. Allmond helped spell starting center Tadas Mankevicius, who left the game after seven first-half minutes with a bruised nose.
VMI shot 49% for the game after hitting 13 of 26 shots in the second half, marking the first time the Keydets had eclipsed the 40% mark in four games.
The Keydets concluded their home schedule Wednesday night against High Point University at 7:00 p.m. at Cameron Hall. Liberty travels to UNC Greensboro Wednesday for a non-conference date with the Spartans at Fleming Gym beginning at 7:00 p.m.
