LEXINGTON, Va. - Senior forward
Reggie Williams scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with seven assists as VMI defeated James Madison, 90-83, Wednesday night at Cameron Hall.
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Dukes. The Keydets last defeated James Madison on February 12, 1988 at Cameron Hall.
VMI evened its record to 2-2 while James Madison fell to 2-1.
VMI led, 77-67, following a
Travis Holmes layup with 5:26 remaining, but the Dukes answered with a 14-4 run over the next three minutes to pull even on a pair of free throws by Abulai Jalloh to even the score at 81-81 at the 2:27 mark.
The Keydets outscored JMU, 9-2, the rest of the way and took the lead for good on seven consecutive points including six straight by Williams to start the run. A Williams layup with 1:57 left followed by two free throws and a dunk from the senior pushed the Keydets lead to 87-81 and
Travis Holmes converted one of two free throws seconds later to cap the run.
James Madison hit just one of five shots from the floor over the last 2:27 of regulation, and a Kyle Swanston jumper at the :20 mark to cut the deficit to 88-83 was as close as the Dukes would come down the stretch.
Travis Holmes added 18 points and five rebounds and freshman guard
Christian Hunter scored 11 points, all in the second half, to reach double figures scoring for the Keydets. VMI overcame 9 of 36 three-point shooting (25.0%) by holding a 42-38 edge on the boards including a 21-12 count on the offensive glass which led to 17 second chance points. The Keydets also forced 26 JMU turnovers which were parlayed into 34 points and the Keydet bench outscored JMU's bench, 43-27.
Senior forward Terrance Hunter led JMU in scoring with 23 points including 17 in the second half. Freshman guard Heiden Ratner scored 15 points while Swanston and sophomore guard Pierre Curtis added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Dukes.
JMU shot 57.8% (37-64) from the floor to VMI's 40.3% (29-72) but struggled at the foul line going 6 of 16 (37.5%) while the Keydets drained 23 of 33 from the charity stripe (69.7%) and hit seven of 10 free throws over the last 4:33 of regulation.
The game was tied at 42-42 at halftime and VMI opened second half outscoring JMU, 13-2 over the first 4:36 behind the strong perimeter shooting of Hunter who nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to propel the run. But the Dukes fought back to pull within 61-59 at the midway point of the second half behind 11 straight points by Carter and a Swanston dunk at the 9:58 mark to cap the 13-4 run.
VMI generated 14 steals in the game and was led by Hunter's four thefts.
The win gave VMI its first win over a CAA team since defeating Towson on Dec. 21, 2005, 80-78. The Keydets also improved to 6-1 against JMU at home.
VMI next faces Ohio State at St. John Arena Sunday night in Columbus, Ohio at 8:00 p.m. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
VMI head coach Duggar Baucom - "It was effort, it wasn't anything technical that we did. JMU came back and made that run on us and Jollah hit those two free throws, they just believed in each other and they just kept together tonight. That was it in a nutshell.
Christian Hunter didn't take a shot in the first half, and he was the man in the second half. He hit a step-back three and then hit a deep three on that high-ball screen and kind of got us going.
Quinn Brownfield hit a huge one in the corner. I'm excited about VMI basketball. We have some really good young players that believe in what we are doing and they practice hard. They're fun to coach. To get 21 offensive rebounds on that team, as athletic as they are, is unbelievable."
