LYNCHBURG, Va. ? VMI's quest for a second straight quarterfinal win over the Liberty Flames was not to be as the host team drilled a Big South tournament record 17 three-pointers in a 103-88 win over the Keydets Tuesday night at the Vines Center.
VMI's season ended with a 14-15 mark while the Flames moved to 16-15 and Thursday night's semi-final against No. 1 seed UNC Asheville.
Keydet senior forward Reggie Williams scored 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his final game in a VMI uniform and finished his career with 2,556 points-first on the VMI, Big South, and State Division I scoring lists.
Liberty shot 48.6% beyond the arc for the game (17-35), including seven of nine in the second half (77.8%) and was led by Anthony Smith who scored 30 points including four treys. LU guard Kyle Ohman added seven 3-pointers to finish with 21 points and guard B.J. Jenkins hit four from long range to finish with 18 points. Flame forward Alex McLean collected his 15th double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
VMI junior guard Chavis Holmes produced his seventh straight 20+ point game against conference competition and finished with 26 points on 9 of 16 shooting including five 3-pointers. Junior guard Travis Holmes added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Keydets.
Liberty dished out a Big South record 26 assists including a tourney record 14 by senior TeeJay Bannister.
VMI grabbed an early six point lead (12-6) following back-to-back 3-pointers by Chavis Holmes but the Flames rallied to tie the game, 18-18, on an Ohman trey at the 14:05 mark. Liberty took its first lead, 24-21 on a Smith long-ranger with 12:03 left in the first half starting a 10-5 run and pushing Liberty's margin to eight points, 34-26, following a dunk by McLean at 7:24.
The Keydets trailed by as many as nine points, 46-37, when McLean canned a jumper at the 2:46 mark, but the Keydets rallied with a 10-2 sprint to finish the half and trailed 48-47 at intermission.
VMI stayed within four points, 56-52, when Travis Holmes converted a lauyp two minutes into the second half, but Ohman's three-pointer 30 seconds later started a key Liberty 15-3 run That broke the game open. Ohman capped the run with another three-pointer at the 9:10 mark to extend Liberty's margin to 17 points, 74-57.
The Keydets employed all-out full-court pressure to try to climb back in it, but was able to shave the deficit to single digits only once when Chavis Holmes hit a jumper to pull VMI within nine points, 79-70, with 5:54 left in regulation.
The Flames closed out the game on a 24-18 run over the last 5:07 to seal the victory.
VMI outshot Liberty 58.1% to 47.4% in the first half but the Flames made theirs count with 10 field goals from beyond the arc. LU heated up to 61.5% in the second half, converted several layups late in regulation as VMI mounted all-out pressure to close the gap.
The Keydets nailed 12 of 30 3-point shots for the game including three from Travis Holmes and two from freshman Christian Hunter.
Liberty converted 16 of 20 free throws in the second half after going to the line just twice in the first half.
Williams closed out his VMI career with his 28th career 30+point game and 50 straight double-figures scoring game.
