Sixth-Seeded VMI Upsets Third-Seeded Liberty 79-78 in First Round of Big South Championship

Men's Basketball VMIKeydets.com

Sixth-Seeded VMI Upsets Third-Seeded Liberty 79-78 in First Round of Big South Championship

LYNCHBURG, Va.- It wasn't over until Larry Blair's desperation shot from 30 feet clanged off the rim as the final horn sounded, as #6 VMI claimed their first victory in a Big South Championship by taking down #3 Liberty 79-78 on Tuesday evening at the Vines Center. The win improves VMI to 13-18 on the season, while the Flames' season comes to an end at 14-17.

The nation's leading scorer, VMI junior Reggie Williams, led all scorers with 23 points and nine rebounds, while senior Matt Murrer poured in 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the victory. The win is the first for the Keydets in three tries this season against the Flames. In the teams' last meeting just a week ago, LU scored a 118-108 victory on VMI's senior night, outrebounding the Keydets by a 61-22 margin.

It was a different story on Tuesday night, as the Keydets won the rebounding battle by a 38-36 margin. The Keydets (51.6%) also outshot the Flames from the floor (46.6%), as well as from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-21 attempts compared to just 7-of-26 shooting for the hosts.

The Keydets claimed their first victory at the Vines Center since the very first game played in the arena, that coming on Nov. 30, 1990 by a 69-61 margin, as the Keydets had dropped five in a row in Lynchburg to the Flames.

#6 VMI will advance to take on #2 High Point on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. in a game that will take place at the Winthrop Coliseum. That game will also be available nationally on ESPNU.

The Keydets won their first tournament game since joining the Big South Conference in 2003-04 and also won their first tourney game overall since 2003 when they advanced to the semi-finals of the Southern Conference.

The Keydets, looking to change the tempo from the two regular losses to Liberty, jettisoned their full court pressure defense for a 2-3 zone sprinkled with a box and one on Liberty's premier scorer, Larry Blair.

The strategy worked. VMI held Blair to 17 points, limited the Flames to 47% shooting (after LU shot a combined 63% from the floor in the two regular season games), and held the advantage on the boards.

Williams' layup with 1:09 left in the second half proved to be the basket that would put VMI up for good, 79-78. Neither team scored in the final minute of regulation.

The final moments played out when Blair missed a 3-point try on Liberty's next trip down the floor, and the ball was rebounded by VMI's Chavis Holmes. Williams missed a three-pointer from the left corner with :14, but the ball carromed to an alert Murrer who brought the ball back out front to Williams were he was fouled immediately by Liberty's Rell Porter with 8.9 seconds remaining. Williams missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Keydets, with fouls to give, fouled Blair barreling up the floor with 3.8 seconds left.

The Flames inbounded at half-court to Blair who dribbled right and heaved up a contested 3-point attempt that clanked off the iron as the buzzer sounded.

VMI, which had fallen behind by 23 and 24-point first half deficits in each of the two regular season match-ups between the teams, raced off to a 25-12 lead at the mid-point of the first half, only to see the Flames battle back with 14 straight points and take their first lead on a Blair layup with 6:49 left in the half. Two ties later, VMI finshed the frame with a 12-6 spurt keyed by a Williams free throw, a Travis holmes layup, a Murrer jumper, and Travis Holmes three-pointer that put VMI up, 40-36 at the break. VMI shot 57.6% from the field in the first half on 19 of 33 attempts.

The Keydets led 48-40 early in the second half following a Murrer jumper, only to see the Flames storm back on an 18-6 run to seize the lead on a Blair jumper at the 11:35 mark which made it 58-56, Liberty.

Both teams battled to the finish with neither sqaud holding more than a six point-lead for the rest of regulation.

Travis Holmes scored 16 points for the Keydets while twin brother Chavis Holmes added 13 points.

Dwight Brewington added 15 points and four assists for LU.

VMI head coach Duggar Baucom-

"To outrebound a team that just outrebounded us 61-22, that's pretty amazing. I'm so proud of those guys. We stayed within the game plan the whole game, but had a couple of careless turnovers, but by in large, we were pretty good. We only turned it over 10 times."

"Reggie Williams was special down the stretch. Matt Murrer was huge. The twins made big plays."

"Adam Lonon I thought was awesome. He did an unbelievable job on Larry Blair. He did a terrific job on him."

"The kids believed in the game plan. It's one thing to do it. And then to carry it out."
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