LEXINGTON, Va. - Senior forward Reggie Williams scored 43 points and added 10 rebounds while junior guard Chavis Holmes scored 30 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead VMI past Newport News Apprentice, 112-96, Monday night at Cameron Hall.

VMI ended the two-game homestand with a two-game winning streak and evened its record to 5-5 overall and 5-1 at home. Apprentice lost for only the second time over the last seven games and fell to 6-5.

Junior guard Travis Holmes rung up his second straight double-double game and fifth of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Willie Bell and freshman guard Austin Kenon each added 9 points.

Newport News Apprentice was led in scoring by senior guard Nolan Thompson with a career-high 21 points, but all in the first half. Junior guard Eric Ruffin scored 17 points and sophomore guard Jason Arrington added 16 points.

Chavis Holmes, who needed four points to reach 1,000 career points, secured the milestone at the 13:04 mark of the first half with a free throw and became the 32nd player in VMI history to score 1,000 points in a career. Holmes also fell just one point shy of his career-high of 31 points in a game.

NNA led 13-12 with 15:07 left in the opening half following an Arrington jumper, but the Keydets scored seven straight points over the next minute to take a 20-13 advantage following a Christian Hunter 3-pointer at the 14:13 mark. The VMI lead was short-lived, however, as a Jason Smith layup, an Arrington layup, and 3-pointer by Ruffin pulled the Builders even at 23-23 at the 11:00 mark of the first half. A Thompson layup at the 10:29 mark nudged Apprentice ahead, 25-24, a lead which they would build to as much as eight points on two occasions, the later on an Eric Joe layup with 6:24 left in the half to make it, 44-36. But the Keydets responded with a 7-0 run to pull within one point, 44-43, and later took the lead for good on a Williams dunk with 2:43 left before intermission.

VMI led, 58-57, at the break but had been bested in second chance points, 10-1, and outscored on the bench, 31-6, despite shooting 64.5% in the opening frame. Newport News Apprentice shot 55.8% from the floor in the first half and had forced VMI into an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers.

The Keydets abandoned their pressure defense for most of the second half and instead packed in zone defenses alternated with a box-and-one to neutralize the NNA shooting. The strategy paid off as the Builders connected on just 38% from the field in the second half.

VMI never after halftime as Williams and Chavis Holmes continued their scoring surge with dribble penetration and working to the free throw line. Williams connected on 9 of 10 from the charity stripe while C. Holmes hit 10 of 16 tries. Travis Holmes also aided the second half attack with 11 points.

VMI took its first double-digit lead (91-80) on a Williams layup with 6:26 left, but NNA made one last run and sliced the lead to 93-97 on a pair of Ruffin free throws with 4:43 remaining. That would be as close as NNA would come the rest of the evening as the Keydets closed out the game on a 19-9 spurt.

VMI finished the game 29 of 39 from the stripe with Williams and the Holmes twins combining for 26 of 33 in free throws.

The Keydets donned their red uniforms for the night at Cameron Hall. While usually worn on the road, the change to red was made to contrast with NNA's gold uniforms. VMI usually wears a bold yellow uniform at home.

The Keydets will break for exams and resume action at William & Mary on December 20. Tipoff in Williamsburg will be 8:00 p.m.

VMI head coach Duggar Baucom - "I told the guys we escaped tonight, that's all we did. Credit them (NNA) with a solid game plan. We couldn't press them, we had no answer for them in the zone. I told our guys that we had the exact same game plan as we did against Howard (last Saturday). We hold a Division I team to 59 points for 40 minutes, and tonight they had 57 points on us in the first half. Credit them. Thank goodness for Reggie Williams. He was a warrior. No sense of shooting three's when you can get to the rim. That was our game plan. We did a decent job from the free throw line but I wish that had been better. We'll try to focus on exams now and get through that and be prepared for William & Mary when we face them in 10 days."