Box Score LEXINGTON, Va. - Rodney Glasgow had 17 points and eight assists in his collegiate debut, Stan Okoye equaled his career-high with 26 points and behind a 67-point second half, the VMI Keydets defeated the Randolph College WildCats 106-65 in VMI's basketball season opener, played Friday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.
The 41-point win was the Keydets' largest margin of victory since a 61-point triumph on Nov. 20, 2008, when VMI beat Stevenson 133-72. In addition to Glasgow and Okoye, Stephen Sargent filled up the stat sheet with a career-high 15 points and nine rebounds, while Keith Gabriel had 17 points and Nick Gore chipped in 16.
VMI placed five in double figures in claiming its third-straight season-opening win, the first time the Keydets had accomplished that since winning four straight from 1991-92 through 1994-95. It was also the Keydets' first time to win back-to-back home openers since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, when VMI defeated Mary Washington and Liberty, respectively.
The game got off to a very slow start, with neither team making a field goal for the opening 1:55. Glasgow got the Keydets on the board, scoring the first two points of his career at 18:05, and VMI took the 2-1 lead.
Despite shooting just 2 for its first 11, VMI stretched that lead slowly, thanks in large part to center Sargent. Sargent and Glasgow combined for VMI's first 11 points, and the Keydets took a nine point lead at the 12:03 mark, thanks to a Glasgow trey. Three additional points, these from Michael Sparks, capped the game-opening 14-2 run as Randolph missed its first 11 shots from the field.
The WildCats finally got on the board at the 10:49 mark, as Mike Ehilegbu hit a three-pointer to cut the margin to nine and score Randolph's first field goal. The visitors had missed their first 12 shots, but one possession later, Pete Hamilton hit a trey of his own to make the score VMI 14, Randolph 8. From there, the teams battled back-and-forth for the next several minutes, with Randolph able to pull slightly closer. Another trey from Ehilegbu pulled the visitors within four at 6:12, but the Keydets pushed the margin back out to 12 at the intermission, thanks to eight Okoye points over the final 4:47.
All told, the first half saw a stunning 25 personal fouls called, while VMI shot just 3 of 20 from three-point range. Randolph was not much better, hitting just 21% of their tries from the floor. Sargent had 10 first-half points, just two short of his career-high, while Sparks had a career-high seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
The Keydets came out of the locker room with a vengeance, putting a 10-0 run on the board to open the period and take a 22-point lead, 49-27. Gabriel hit a three-pointer to cap the run at 18:24, and after a Randolph three-pointer, Okoye converted an old-fashioned three-point play to put the lead back to 22. The WildCats never got closer than 19 the rest of the way.
Gore opened yet another VMI run with 16:49 to play, converting two free throws and starting an 8-0 run that gave the Keydets a 28-point cushion, 60-32.
Randolph clawed back to within 19 with 9:53 left, but the Keydets went on a 19-5 run in which five different players scored to quell any hopes of a rally. The push gave VMI its first 30-point lead of the night, and VMI would finish the game strong, taking a 41-point advantage in the final minute and scoring 21 of the final 31 points to claim the win.
The Keydets outscored Randolph 67-38 in the second half, thanks to shooting 56.5% from the field in the final 20 minutes. VMI also outrebounded the visitors 52-37, after only accomplishing that feat three times last season. Although the home team shot just 11 of 41 from three-point range, the Keydets shot an impressive 31 of 45 from two-point range.
For the visiting WildCats, Hamilton had 12 points and three assists. Randolph, however, was outdone by 27 turnovers and a 21% shooting percentage from the floor in the first half.
VMI basketball will return to action Sunday, traveling to Baltimore, Md. to take on the UMBC Retrievers. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
Quotes – VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom
"I was very pleased with the first four minutes of the second half. We really came out well, and the first few minutes usually determine the way the game is going to go. We came out with tremendous energy. Rodney Glasgow played great, Stan Okoye had some big plays."
"We challenged Keith (Gabriel) at the half, and he really took that to task. We were really pleased with the way he played in the second half."
"Rodney really took care of the ball well and did a nice job with that as well as his defending in his first game."
