LEXINGTON, Va.- - Senior forward Reggie Williams scored 43 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead VMI to a 123-85 non-conference win over Southern Virginia University Tuesday afternoon at Cameron Hall.

The 43 points by Williams tied a season-high and moved him past Liberty's Larry Blair (2004-07) into the no. 1 spot on the Big South Conference's all-time scoring list. The Prince George, Va. native now has 2,234 career points. Williams also broke his school single-game mark for most field goals with 19, one better than the 18 logged against Virginia Intermont in 2006-07 and West Virginia Wesleyan this season.

Junior forward Willie Bell added 15 points and had 13 rebounds for the Keydets (8-6) who have won five of their last six games heading into conference play.

Southern Virginia (3-9) placed five in double figures scoring and was led by sophomore guard Bryce Pendleton with 13 points.

After a 61-46 halftime lead, the Keydets outscored their visitors down U.S. Route 60, 62-39, shooting 54.5% in the second half on a 24 of 44 clip. The Keydets also took advantage of a 59-39 count in rebounding for the game and a 60-40 margin over the Knights in points in the paint.

Williams entered the contest needing 21 points to surpass Blair on the Big South scoring list, and produced exactly that amount over the first 20 minutes of regulation. He pulled even with Blair on a layup with :47 left in the first half, then surpassed the milestone with a free throw with 2.7 seconds remaining before intermission.

Williams picked up where he left off after halftime scoring the first nine VMI points and helping the Keydets to take their first 20 point lead (68-48) with a dunk at the 18:26 mark. The Knights trimmed the margin to 15 points (74-59) on a pair of Dallas Rivera free throws with 16:20 left but that would be as close as SVU would get the rest of the day.

Junior guard Travis Holmes produced his second straight 20-point game for the Keydets and finished with 22 points on eight of 16 shooting from the floor and a perfect five-of-five from the stripe.

Also hitting double figures scoring for the Knights were Tanner Johnson (12), Chris Pendleton and Dele Opeifa each with 11, and Cory Evans (10).

Williams now has 24 career double-doubles and surpassed the 40-point mark in a game six times. It was Bell's second career double-double.

The Keydets dished out 29 assists for the game and were paced by sophomore guard Adam Lonon who had seven.

VMI, which improved its home mark to 6-1, will play its next two games on the road and will open up Big South Conference action Saturday night at Charleston Southern at 8:00 p.m.

VMI HEAD COACH DUGGAR BAUCOM - "Reggie picked up the slack for everybody. He's pretty special. With the exception of the Richmond game, he has been good in all areas of the game. He's so unselfish; he rebounds like a madman also. He's fun to watch and he's work really hard and showed great leadership. He still has some records to write but he wants to be on a winning team most of all. To go into the conference schedule with a winning record, that hasn't been done here for a long time and that's going to give the guys some confidence, but we have a rough road trip right off the bat. Charleston Southern - they are a different team. They have small guards that really shoot it, really quick. Their strength is their guards. We'll see what happens, I hope we can go and play well and if we play well, good things can happen, I think."