LEXINGTON, Va. - Arnaud Dahi scored 20 points, including 15 in the second half to lead Old Dominion to a 77-62 win over VMI Wednesday night at Cameron Hall.
The Monarchs (4-1) also got 20 points from Isaiah Hunter and 17 points from Alex Loughton.
VMI (0-4) was led in scoring by Reggie Williams with 18 points and got 12 points and nine rebounds from junior forward Matt Murrer.
Old Dominion shot 58.1% in the second half and used two key scoring runs in the final 10 minutes to put away the stingy Keydets.
VMI led 31-30 at the break, but fell behind 47-40 with 16:15 left after an 8-0 run by ODU that ended on a three-point play by Hunter.
But the Keydets kept pace with the Monarchs, hitting nine of their first 14 shot attempts over the first nine minutes of the second half.
VMI countered with a 9-0 run capped by Chavis Holmes layup which put the Keydets ahead, 49-47, with 13:07 left. Holmes drained another jumper at 11:55 in what would be VMI's last lead of the game, 53-52, before the Monarchs reeled off nine unanswered points behind the strong inside play of forward Arnaud Dahi, who had six points in the run.
Leading 63-58 with 8:42 left, Old Dominion rattled off a 10-0 spurt that was capped by an Dahi dunk the 4:12 mark. The Keydets were unable to shrink the deficit the rest of regulation.
VMI took the lead into the dressing room at halftime largely because of just six turnovers, but the Keydets turned it over 10 times after intermission which ODU converted into 16 points.
The Monarchs shot 46.8% for the game but hit just 7 of 29 three-point shots. ODU controlled the boards 44-37 and was led by Loughton's 10 rebounds. Brian Henderson dished out a game-high eight assists for the Monarchs.
Chavis Holmes added 12 points for the Keydets on 5-13 shooting and gave the Keydets three double figures scorers in a game for the first time this season. Williams pulled down eight rebounds and had six assists.
ODU's Hunter moved over the 1,000 career point plateau and now has 1,007 points for his career.
The Keydets played their first game without junior point guard Matt Coward (Richmond, Va.), who withdrew from the team before Wednesday night's contest. Coward's place in the starting line up was filled by sophomore Sean Christiansen, who scored nine points and had three assists in 33 minutes of action.
VMI continues the homestand Friday night against UVA-Wise at Cameron Hall at 8:00 p.m. Old Dominion will face East Carolina in Norfolk Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
VMI HEAD COACH DUGGAR BAUCOM- "I thought we ran out a gas after about 30 minutes. I thought we competed well for 30 minutes. We just go on scoring droughts and we never really recovered after that. I thought Sean (Christiansen) did a great job and we threw him into the fire, and to play and have only two turnovers and one of them probably wasn't his. Hats off to him. He had nine points and I actually thought he made us better tonight. They were running two or three people at Reggie (Williams) and he made some great heads up plays around the basket. Just finishing inside tonight, we must have had 10 shots missed at the rim. You can't be a very good basketball team if you get layups and can't finish them."
