LEXINGTON, Va. ? Senior forward Reggie Williams poured in 38 points and guards Travis and Chavis Holmes combined for 47 points as VMI won its second straight Big South Conference game with a 109-85 win over Charleston Southern Monday night at Cameron Hall.
VMI hit a school record 16 three-pointers in the first half and never looked back after assuming a 68-35 lead at halftime.
The Keydets improved to 12-11 overall and 4-5 in Big South Conference action. Charleston Southern dropped its seventh straight and fell to 7-17, 1-8 BSC.
Junior forward Willie Bell turned in his second double-double game over the last three games with 13 points and 12 rebounds while sophomore forward Carl Josey hauled in nine rebounds in 12 minutes.
Freshman forward Omar Carter led the Bucs with a career-high tying 25 points and a career-high 13 rebounds while freshman guard Jamarco Warren added 20 points and guard Tovi Bailey scored 15 points.
The Keydets never trailed in the game and set the tone early over the first two minutes jumping to a 9-0 lead on consecutive 3-pointers by Chavis Holmes and Williams and a three-point play by Chavis Holmes. VMI soon after was raining in treys in record pace and Williams, playing his second game after missing four straight contests with a thigh bruise, finished 7 of 11 beyond the arc in the first half while Chavis Holmes sank five of 10 from long range and surpassed Ramon Williams (1987-90) for the all-time lead in VMI career 3-pointers with 208.
VMI assumed its biggest first half lead of 33 points late in the half and again at halftime. The Keydets led by as many as 41 points at the 14:37 mark of the second half for their largest margin of the game when Williams converted a layup to make it, 83-42. CSU's Chris Moore cut the deficit to 26 points 101-75 with a 3-pointer with 5:11 left , but back-to-back buckets by Williams prevented CSU of any further run.
The Keydets held the rebounding advantage, 48-39 including a 22-13 count on the offensive glass. The Bucs, who hit 17 three-pointers in the first game between the teams (93-91, VMI in OT) never got their outside production going and finished 6 of 30 beyond the arc.
VMI swept its second regular season conference series of the year and only the fourth since joining the Big South in 2003-04.
The Keydets travel to Asheville, N.C. Saturday to face league leading UNC Asheville at 7:00 p.m. at the Justice Center. The game will be carried in the Mid-Atlantic by MASN.
Charleston Southern returns home Saturday to host High Point at 7:30 p.m.
VMI head coach Duggar Baucom- “We clicked on all cylinders in the first half. A really good job- that's as good a half of basketball as we've played in a long time. I'm very proud of them. The first six minutes of the second half we were really good, then I thought we got a little disinterested. But a great job in the first half. We really shared the ball and we had 21 baskets and 16 assists in the first half. In the second half, we got a little complacent, but I was proud of the way we came out and took business early on. Tonight the way Reggie shot was the way he had been shooting in practice up to now, and I was wondering when it would translate into a game. He put on a show in the first half.”
