HIGH POINT, N.C. - VMI junior guard Austin Kenon converted six straight free throws in the final 14.1 seconds of regulation to hold off the High Point University Panthers and give VMI a 94-91 win before a sellout crowd at the Millis Center Saturday night.
VMI won its first road game of 2009-10 and handed High Point its first home loss of the season. The Keydets improved to 6-12 overall and 2-7 in the Big South Conference. High Point dropped its third game in the last four contests and now stands 10-9, 5-4 Big South.
Kenon finished the night a perfect eight-for-eight from the stripe and scored 20 points. He connected on a pair of free throws at the 14.1, 6.6, and 4.0 marks on the clock to preserve VMI's second half lead which had withered away from 19 points earlier in the half.
The game's outcome was not certain until HPU sophomore guard Nick Barbour's three-point try from left wing to send the game into overtime missed as the buzzer sounded.
The Keydets were led in scoring by freshman forward Stan Okoye, who produced his fourth straight 20-point, 10-rebound effort with career-highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds. Okoye tallied 20 of his points in the first half.
VMI also got a double-double effort from sophomore guard/forward Ron Burks who scored 19 points and collected 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year. Sophomore guard Keith Gabriel and senior guard Adam Lonon scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Barbour led the Panthers in scoring with 21 points including 12 in the second half, and redshirt freshman forward Corey Law added 13 points and 15 rebounds. Senior guard Eugene Harris tallied 18 points for the home team.
The Keydets connected on eight of 13 shots behind the arc in the first half, which helped open up driving opportunities for Okoye and his teammates. VMI trailed or was tied with the Panthers the first 15 minutes of the half, but an Okoye layup at the 4:49 mark gave VMI its first lead of the night. The Keydets closed out the last two minutes of the half on an 11-5 run to take a 54-48 lead at intermisson.
VMI roared out of the locker room and scored 15 unanswered points to start the second half, capped by a Kenon layup to fuel a 19-point lead (69-50) before the first media timeout of the period.
VMI shot just 1-of-12 from 3-point range in the second half, which helped High Point back in the game. The double-digit margin was trimmed to single digits for the rest of the evening when Harris converted a pair of free throws with 6:32 left to make it 78-70. The Panthers added a 7-0 run over a 60-second span later in the half and pulled within two points, 86-84, when Barbour hit a driving layup with 1:22 left. Burks responded with a layup at the :22 mark on VMI's next scoring possession before Kenon began his string of free throws to preserve the win.
VMI has now won three straight against High Point, including two at the Millis Center after previously dropping its first six visits to High Point. The Keydets also snapped a six-game Big South losing streak.
The Keydets step out of conference play Tuesday night to face Southern Virginia at Cameron Hall at 7:00 p.m.
VMI HEAD COACH DUGGAR BAUCOM -
"It was great to get one like this - we had not been in this position much and we had a lot of players out there who hadn't experience this kind of game in crunch time. Kenon's free throws were huge."
"It feels good. It's been a long time. High Point has great players. But I thought our guys, even being outmanned, had huge hearts tonight. Until the first media timeout in the second half, it was probably the best we had played all year."
