N. CHARLESTON, S.C. - VMI's two-game road swing through the Palmetto State got off to a rough start Saturday afternoon.

VMI's offense struggled and the Charleston Southern Buccaneers overcame a poor shooting first half to beat VMI 59-48 in Big South Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Buc Dome.

CSU shot just 25 percent in the first half, improving to 32 percent from the game, but were only 28 percent from behind the arc.

The Buccaneers improve to 11-14 on the season, holding a 6-8 mark in the conference. VMI falls to 7-18 and 2-12 after the loss.

CSU guard Chris Moore continued to succeed in the conference, scoring 17 second half points, scoring 20 for the game to lead all scorers. Trent Drafts also hit double figures with 17 points. The Keydets shot 41 percent for the game but put only one player in double digits with freshman guard Chavis Holmes scoring 11, his second straight double figures scoring game. VMI committed 20 turnovers while generating a season-low tying seven assists in the loss.

The Keydets hit just 2-of-14 shots beyond the arc and made only eight trips to the free throw line, connecting on four attempts.

VMI sophomore guard Reggie Williams, the Keydets leading scoring averaging 19.8 points entering the game, was held to nine points, only the second time this season and the seventh time in his 52 game career he has been held under 10 points in a game.

The Keydets led just once in the game, a 4-3 lead on a Justin Jarman layup with 17:30 left in the first half. Charleston reeled off a 10-2 run to take a 16-8 lead on a Trent Drafts 3-point shot with 11:56 remaining, but VMI responded shortly with an 8-2 run to pull within 18-16 on a Travis Holmes pull up jumper at the 8:06 mark.

VMI trailed 23-20 at halftime, but pulled even at 28-28 on Chavis Holmes' three-point play with 17:32 left in the second half. The Bucs then surged with a 12-3 run to assume a 39-32 advantage when Moore rained in a three-ball at the 15:03 mark. The closest VMI could come the rest of the way was 46-41 when Fred Robinson swished a 3-pointer from the right side with 7:55 left. The Bucs outscored the Keydets 13-7 the remainder of regulation, pushing their lead into double digits three times.

The Keydets outshot CSU, 41% to 32%, but managed 11 fewer total shots than the hosts, who cashed in on nine of 32 three-point tries.

VMI, which has dropped 10 straight, will play its last remaining road game Monday against Coastal Carolina at 7:00 p.m. The Keydets remain a half-game behind eighth-place Liberty for the final Big South tournament berth following the Flames' Saturday loss at Radford. Charleston Southern plays host to Birmingham-Southern Monday at 7:00 p.m.

VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom- "I think maybe it was our poorest performance of the year. I don't know what to attribute that to. It was hard to watch. I thought Justin Jarman was a bright spot, he made some shots inside, but with the exception of that, I don't know anything else really pretty about today. Turnovers, dribbling off the foot, missing layups, missing free throws, it looked like a bad middle school game. We didn't do a lot of things, but that was a very winnable game."

CSU Coach Barclay Radebaugh- "We prepared well for this game. We just didn't play with the intensity and the spark in the second half that we needed to. Chris Moore is as fine of guard as there is in the conference and his determination to win this game was evident. We challenged Trent (Drafts) to refuse to lose this game and you could see the change in his game."