HIGH POINT, N.C.- Senior guard Chavis Holmes scored his 2,000th career point to lead VMI to an 81-76 win over High Point on Saturday evening at the Millis Athletic Center. The win is VMI's first-ever at the Millis Center in seven tries, as the Keydets end the regular season at 22-7 overall and 13-5 in the Big South. High Point falls to 9-20 on the year and 4-14 in the league.
Each team returns to action on Tuesday evening in the Quarterfinal Round of the 2009 Advance Auto Parts Big South Conference Men's Basketball Championship. The second-seeded Keydets will play host to seventh-seeded Coastal Carolina at Cameron Hall, with tip-time set for 7 p.m. High Point, meanwhile, earns the eighth seed in the tournament and will travel to take on top-seeded Radford on Tuesday.
The Keydets will carry a two-game win streak into the Championship thanks to a team effort against the Panthers. Chavis Holmes paced the VMI offense with a game-high 19 points, while Travis Holmes netted his third-consecutive double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Other double-digit scorers from VMI were gunners Austin Kenon (16 pts.) and Michael Sparks (12 pts.).
The Panthers were led by center Cruz Daniels' 14-point, 20-rebound performance, while David Singleton contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a losing cause. HPU held a 56-37 advantage on the boards for the game, but were done in by 25 turnovers, compared to just 11 for VMI.
VMI started the game cold shooting from long range and hit just one of its first 16 three-point tries. Still, VMI scored nine straight points to jump to an 11-5 lead following a Keith Gabriel layup at the 14:03 mark. High Point fought back to tie the game at 11-11 and the first half saw two more ties until Gabriel nailed a 3-pointer from up top at the 6:42 mark to give VMI the lead it would never relinquish. The Keydets gradually pushed the lead up to a 38-32 halftime advantage following a pair of free throws from Adam Lonon.
The Keydets raced to a quick start in the second half holding the Panthers scoreless over nearly the first four minutes and outscoring High Point 25-9 over the first nine minutes of the second half. A Michael Sparks 3-pointer from the right baseline gave VMI its largest lead of the night (63-41) with 11:20 left. Senior forward Willie Bell keyed the run with seven points and grabbed several rebounds during that stretch.
But the Panthers behind the scoring of Singleton and Barbour chipped away at the deficit to threaten down the stretch. VMI repelled one run when a Melvin Crowder 3-pointer that pulled the Panthers within five at the 3:59 mark was answered by seven straight Keydet points- a Chavis Holmes layup, a Kenon 3-pointer with the shot clock about to expire, and a Kenon layup which pushed the Keydets ahead by 12 with two minutes to go.
The Keydets took advantage of a 23-9 count in fast break points and forced 25 turnovers which led to 21 points.
VMI could not close out the game until Chavis Holmes knocked down a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds left to secure the win of the year and give the Keydets momentum heading into next week's Advance Auto parts Big South Conference Basketball Championship Tournament.
The win gives VMI 22 wins this season, tying this year's squad for the second-most in program history. Only the 1976-77 team, which went 26-4 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen have won more games than the 2008-09 Keydets as VMI enters the Big South Championship.
Among individual milestones, Chavis Holmes became just the fourth player in VMI history to score 2,000 career points, while twin brother Travis Holmes became only the ninth player in NCAA Division I history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 300 steals. Travis currently has 1,673 points, 568 rebounds, 347 assists and 302 steals in his career, joining the prestigious list below of players to hit the above career statistics.
* Tim Smith, East Tenn. State (2002-06)
* Juan Dixon, Maryland (1998-02)
* Cookie Belcher, Nebraska (1996-01)
* Shawnta Rogers, George Washington (1995-99)
* Bonzi Wells, Ball State (1994-98)
* Johnny Rhodes, Maryland (1992-96)
* Eric Murdock, Providence (1987-91)
* Michael Anderson, Drexel (1984-88)
VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom.-
“That was little more suspenseful than I wanted but credit the guys for gutting it out again and making the plays when we had to. We made some timely free throws. I was proud of them.”
“We got great energy from Willie Bell and Ron Burks gave us some help on the boards and Adam Lonon gave us a spark again by hitting six-of-seven free throws.”
“I was happy for Chavis and Travis-this was the one arena, along with Willie, where they had never won.”
“I thought we sprinted the floor well tonight and got some easy baskets. Defensively, to hold Barbour to 15 points, I was very pleased, he had been shooting 46% from 3-pointers in February.”
“We had two unbelievable games against Coastal Carolina with both going down to the last shot. We need to play as hard as we can and as smart as we can. We just hope we can make a run like we did two years ago. Our seniors certainly know what that feels like. Adam (Lonon) and Carl (Josey) know what that feels like. If the upperclassmen can translate that to the others, that makes March fun. ”
