LEXINGTON, Va. - The Winthrop Eagles placed five in double-figures scoring and held VMI to 37% shooting from the floor in an 80-70 win over VMI Wednesday night at Cameron Hall.
VMI saw its three-game conference winning streak snapped and fell to 13-12, 5-6 Big South Conference. Winthrop claimed its ninth straight in the series and won its fourth straight conference game, moving to 18-9 and 9-3 in the Big South.
Two significant records fell on the night as VMI senior forward
Reggie Williams scored 27 points and moved past Gay Elmore (1983-87) for the top spot on the VMI career scoring list. Now with 2,430 points, Williams surpassed Elmore's 2,423 points.
Winthrop senior guard Chris Gaynor became the Big South's all-time steals leader registering eight thefts against the Keydets to move past Campbell's Brad Childress (243). Gaynor now has 246 for his career.
VMI, which came in averaging 12.3 three-point goals a game, suffered its third worst shooting night of the season beyond the arc going 7 for 36 (19.4%). The seven treys made was also the fourth lowest in a VMI game this year, higher than only the High Point (3), Dartmouth (5), and first Winthrop (6) games.
The Eagles placed five in double figures scoring and were led by senior guard Michael Jenkins with 17 points. Gaynor added 15 points and was joined by senior forward Taj McCullough (13), Antwon Harris (12), and Byron Faison (11).
Junior guard
Chavis Holmes added 21 points and five rebounds. Williams led VMI on the boards with 14 points and collected his 11th double-double of the year and 29th of his career.
The game opened as a tight defensive struggle with neither team able to amass more than a five-point advantage. There were six lead changes and one tie in the opening half, but the Keydets were unable to capitalize on 13 Winthrop turnovers while also committing 10 turnovers. The Eagles shot 50% in the first half (14-28) while limiting VMI to 29 shots and a 34% clip, yet led by only a 33-28 count at halftime.
A 10-0 run by Winthrop early in the second half turned the tide. McCullough started the spurt with a layup at the 16:07 mark, and an Antwon Harris dunk with 11:41 left capped the scoring string to give the Eagles a 49-37 lead. VMI shaved the deficit back to single digits as late as the 7:00 mark (58-49), but came no closer. Another Harris dunk with 6:41 left gave Winthrop a double-digit cushion for the remainder of the game, the largest of 17 points with 1:06 left.
VMI returns to the road for the next two games and will face Radford Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The game will be televised on MASN.
Winthrop will play Davidson in Rock Hill, S.C. in a nationally televised BracketBusters game at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
