LEXINGTON, Va. - A late VMI flurry fell short, as the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs defeated the Keydets 92-84 in a Big South contest at Cameron Hall Saturday evening.
Trailing by nine with 1:08 to play, a three-point play by Michael Sparks cut the GWU lead to six, 84-78. After two free throws by the visitors, Ron Burks hit a three-pointer to reduce the margin to five, and an Austin Kenon trey with 31 seconds left pulled the Keydets within three. Two C.J. Hailey free throws made it a five-point game again, and Grayson Flittner intercepted a cross-court pass with 19 seconds to go to cement the Runnin' Bulldogs win.
In the win, GWU had six players in double figures, led by Jonathan Moore and Hailey, who each scored 18 points as the Bulldogs moved to 5-12 on the year and 2-5 in the conference. The Keydets dropped to 5-11 and 1-6 in the Big South and were led by Stan Okoye's second consecutive double-double, as the freshman put up 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
The Keydets got off to a strong start, hitting three-pointers on their first two possessions and opening the contest with a 6-2 run. GWU scored the next seven points, capped by a three-pointer by Anton Silver, as the visitors took a 9-6 advantage. VMI retook the lead by tallying the next four points as the opening exchange of runs continued, but GWU answered with a Moore basket at the 15:36 mark to retake the advantage, 11-10.
The Runnin' Bulldogs maintained that lead for the majority of the half, but the visitors could not pull away. GWU managed its largest lead with 8:35 left in the opening stanza, moving ahead 29-21. VMI battled back to knot the score at 39 with 51 seconds remaining in the period on a Stan Okoye free throw, but the Runnin' Bulldogs scored the final four points of the half to take a 43-39 lead to the locker room.
The Keydets struggled from the floor in the opening half, shooting just 35% from the floor, including 3-of-19 from three-point range. GWU's Hailey led all scorers with 13 points, while Okoye had 11 for the home team.
VMI clawed back to within three early in the second half, as Nick Gore hit a triple to cut the margin to 47-44 with 17:43 to play. From there, GWU launched a 13-1 run over the next five-plus minutes, capped by a Brian McNair jumper with 12:13 to go to give the Runnin' Bulldogs a 60-45 lead. The Keydets went 7:05 without a field goal following Gore's three-pointer, as a Kenon basket stopped the skid with 10:38 to play.
VMI was unable to cut the margin to 10 until the 6:39 mark, when Sparks hit a three-pointer to reduce the deficit to nine, 68-59. The teams battled back-and-forth for the next several minutes, as despite VMI going 7-for-12 from distance over the final eight minutes, GWU maintained at least an eight-point lead until the events of the final 1:08.
The Keydets' final numbers included 11-for-43 shooting from three-point range. After making its first two treys, VMI went cold from beyond the arc, hitting just two of their next 27 attempts before the game-ending run. In addition to Okoye's 20 points, the Keydets got 19 from Sparks and 18 from Kenon in the losing effort, who became the 34th VMI player to surpass the 1,000-point plateau, doing so at the 7:19 mark of the second half.
The Keydets return to action Thursday, traveling to Radford to take on the defending conference champion Radford Highlanders. Game time at the Dedmon Center is set for 7 p.m.
Quotes - VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom
"You have to make a shot. You have to make open three-pointers. You have to make three-pointers. You can't shoot air balls. It's been the story of this stretch."
"The difference in the game is that they drove and made their layups. We drove to the basket and didn't make our layups, with the exception of Stan Okoye. He was marvelous once again."
"(Jonathan) Moore was a warrior and did a great job for his team. He's just getting better and better. He did a great job finishing around the basket."
"I thought we played extremely hard, but we didn't play smart all the time. We played hard enough to win. We just need to finish shots."
"It's been frustrating, but we'll get back in the gym tomorrow and we'll keep shooting. We'll build on the small things and go from there."
