LEXINGTON, Va. - The Liberty Flames spoiled VMI's Senior Night and locked up the final home seed in the Big South Tournament with a 118-108 win over the Keydets Wednesday night before 3,217 spectators at Cameron Hall.

Junior forward Alex McLean scored a career-high 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead the Flame attack.

The Keydets fell behind by as much as 24 points in the first half but rallied after halftime behind the scoring of sophomore guard Chavis Holmes and pulled within four points at the 12-minute mark of the second half. But a 61-22 rebounding disadvantage on the boards was too much for the Keydets to overcome as the Flames pounded out a 72-38 count in points in the paint for the game.

Liberty won for only the second time in eight tries in Lexington and snapped a three-game losing streak to move to 13-16 and 7-6 in the Big South. The Keydets, playing for the first time in a week, fell to 12-17 and 5-8 in the BSC with one regular season game remaining.

With 28 points, LU senior Larry Blair became the all-time leading scorer in Big South history and now has 2,177 points, surpassing Tony Dunkin of Coastal Carolina (1990-93).

VMI junior forward Reggie Williams led the Keydets with 34 points and set a new VMI season scoring record with 831 points. Williams overtook Jason Conley, who had 820 points in 2001-02 campaign.

The Flames shot an efficient 64.4% from the game, going 69% from the field in the opening half and an even 60.0% in the second half.

The Keydets also had double figures scoring efforts from Chavis Holmes, who scored 23 second-half points to finish with 26, and senior Fred Robinson, who nailed four treys on his way to a 19-point effort in his final home game at Cameron Hall. Matt Murrer, also a senior, added 16 points for the VMI.

Liberty guard Dwight Brewington added 26 points and hit 11 of 14 shots from the floor.

The Flames led throughout the game with the exception of a brief one-point VMI lead over a minute into the contest. Liberty broke open the game in the first half with 17 straight points capped by a Blair dunk with 11:19 left in the half to push the lead to 35-17. The advantage grew to as much as 24 points following a B.J. Jenkins jumper that made it 47-23 with 6:36 remaining. But the Keydets rallied to shave the deficit into single digits at halftime with a 26-11 run capped by a Williams lay-in at the buzzer.

Liberty stretched out its lead to 16 points in the second half (68-52) on a McLean lay-in at the 16:57 mark, but the Keydets rallied behind 16 straight points by Chavis Holmes and trimmed the deficit to 76-72 with 12:44 left, but the Flames kept distance by continuing to convert layups against the VMI pressure and also hitting 10 of 12 free throws after halftime.

VMI's last charge came at the 2:36 mark when Williams sank a three-ball from the left wing, but the Keydets missed their next six shots from the floor while the Flames converted three Brewington lay-ups and a McLean dunk before hitting four straight from the line to put the game away.

The 46 Liberty defensive rebounds set a new school record.

The Keydets will try to solidify their hold on fifth place in the conference standings as they travel to High Point Saturday for a 7:00 game. Liberty will close out the regular season Saturday at Radford at 4:00 p.m.





Game Notes:

---Reggie Williams breaks Jason Conley's mark for most points in a season with 831. Conley set set the previous mark of 820 back in 2002.

---Reggie Williams moved into 5th place on the Big South career scoring chart with 1,764 points.

---Williams passes Gay Elmore ('84-'87) for most 30-point games in a career with 16.

---The Keydets eclipsed the 100-point mark for the 17th time this year, posting a 10-7 mark in those games.