RADFORD, Va. - Stan Okoye had 23 points and nine rebounds, helping the VMI Keydets earn their first road win of the season in downing the Radford Highlanders, 65-60, in Big South basketball action Thursday night at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va.
Okoye posted 14 of his 23 points in the second half, which saw VMI (11-10, 6-5 Big South) launch a 15-1 run on a Rodney Glasgow jumper with 15:28 remaining. That spurt turned a 35-32 Highlander (4-19, 1-10) lead into a 47-36 Keydet advantage, and VMI would not trail again.
Before winning Thursday, VMI had been the lone Division I team to be perfect at home, but winless on the road. In prevailing, the Keydets posted their lowest point total in a victory since Nov. 18, 2010, a 65-55 win over Jacksonville State. The teams combined for 42 turnovers, 22 of which were by Radford, as VMI improved to 4-0 when forcing more than 20 turnovers this season.
In addition to Okoye, D.J. Covington had 10 points for VMI, all in the first half. The Keydets attempted just 14 three-pointers, their lowest total since Feb. 18, 2006, while shooting 43.8% (21 for 48) for the game. In the second half, however, the visitors hit 11 of 21 field goals for a 52.4% effort.
The game's other key stat saw Radford shoot a dismal 16 of 30 (53.3%) from the foul line, while the Keydets hit two-thirds of their attempts from the charity striple, going 20 for 30.
The Keydets either trailed or were tied with the Highlanders throughout the first part of the opening half but never fell behind by more than seven points before halftime. RU took a 14-7 lead at the 11:39 mark, but the Keydets fought back to score eight unanswered points and took their first lead on a Covington bucket at the 8:20 juncture to make it 15-14. The half then saw seven more ties and a total of seven lead changes before the teams went to the locker rooms at intermission deadlocked at 30-30.
VMI shot just 37% on the first half to Radford's 52.6%, but the Keydets were bolstered by Covington's 10 points as he finished the frame as VMI's only double figures scoring player. VMI also forced 17 first half Radford turnovers which were converted into 14 first half points, but the Keydets also committed an unusually high amount of turnovers in the first half with 11. VMI leading scorer Keith Gabriel picked up three first half fouls and played just 11 minutes while going scoreless.
The Keydet shooting picked up in the second half as VMI hit 11 of 21 shots from the floor after halftime for 52.4% . Okoye led the way with five of 10 shooting from the floor, mostly on driving layups, and tallied 14 second half points to finish with his game-high 23 and his eighth 20-point game of the season.
The Highlanders took a 35-32 lead with 15:48 left in the second half on a layup by Daniel Mitchell, but VMI got rolling with a 15-1 run to take control of the game. A Glasgow jumper got the ball rolling at the 15:28 mark and a pair of Keith Gabriel free throws 30 seconds later would push VMI ahead for the rest of the night. Gabriel and Okoye both contributed five points each on the run which was capped an Okoye free throw with 11:14 left that gave VMI its largest lead of the night, 47-36.
VMI took its final double-digit lead of the game on a Michael Sparks 3-pointer which put the visitors up, 61-5,1 but Radford charged back with a 9-2 run capped by R.J. Price's 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to slice the VMI lead to 63-60 and keep the fans in their seats. The Keydets escaped further damage when Highlander center Tolga Cerrah missed two free throws with 13 seconds remaining which could have made it a two-point game, and Glasgow and Okoye both converted one of two free throws over the final 23 seconds of regulation to preserve the victory and give the Keydets their fourth straight win over Radford.
Highlander guard Javonte Green finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds and posted his second double-double against the Keydets this year.
After a week off, VMI resumes action opening a two-game homestand beginning with UNC Asheville Thursday, February 2, at Cameron Hall. Tipoff is 7 p.m. and tickets can be ordered by going online at vmikeydets.com, or calling the VMI ticket office at 540-464-7266.
VMI HEAD COACH DUGGAR BAUCOM -
"It was hard fought, we didn't play very well. Q (Quinton Upshur) sure gave us a huge lift. The stats don't show it, with two points and three rebounds, but he had four steals and most of these turned into live things and got us going. I thought having him back in the lineup and having productive minutes was certainly the key to the game."
"Stan Okoye was spectacular offensively, literally the only guy we had going for us offensively tonight and we gutted it out. Michael Sparks hit a key three-pointer for us late. Credit our guys, they made plays, but you just can't have 20 turnovers and that's going to be strongly addressed and will have to get better. "
"It's good going into this long week off with a win rather than the alternative. But we just have to play better if we want to go up in the standings. I wasn't pleased with our free throw shooting down the stretch, but we made enough. More guys have to contribute for us - we can't have just one guy carrying us, and that's been the story lately."
