LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Keydets close out their home January schedule Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall when they face the Mercer Bears at 1 pm. It will be the second time in 10 days the teams have met after Mercer rallied to defeat the Keydets, 73-62  last week in Macon. Saturday's contest  can be seen on ESPN3  and will also be carried as part on the Ingles Nexstar Game of the Week that is distributed to several SoCon television markets. In the Lexington/Roanoke/Lynchburg area, the game will be carried on WWCW. VMI will close out the month of January with a road game at Furman next Wednesday, January 29.
 
Last Time Out: Wofford 66, VMI 54 - January 22, 2020 - Spartanburg, S.C.
The Wofford Terriers placed four in double figures scoring and led wire-to-wire in posting a 66-54 over visiting VMI In Southern Conference basketball Wednesday evening at Richardson Indoor Stadium.  The Terriers (13-7, 5-2) notched their eighth straight home win and used a quick 11-1 start from the opening tip to establish a lead they would not relinquish. Down 39-27 at halftime, VMI battled even in the second half but couldn't generate a sustained scoring run to turn the tables. Junior guard Greg Parham scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the visitors and tallied in double figures scoring for the fifth straight game. Senior guard Garrett Gilkeson added 13 points and freshman guard Travis Evee tallied 12 points for the Keydets (6-15, 1-7). Terrier reserves Messiah Jones and Tray Hollowell provided the big first half scoring punch to help Wofford take control early. Hollowell canned all four of his 3-point tries to spark the outburst and Jones added seven points and five rebounds before halftime.  Jones paced the Terriers in scoring with 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds including five on the offensive glass and finished with his first career double-double.  VMI held Wofford to 1-of-7 shooting to open the second half but missed five of its first six shots attempts after the break and could not trim the deficit to single digits for the remainder of regulation.
 
Last Meeting with the Bears: Mercer 73, VMI 62 - Jan. 15, 2020 - Macon, Ga.
The Mercer Bears shot 60.7% in the second half to overcome a double-digit halftime deficit and defeated VMI, 73-62, in Southern Conference basketball action at Hawkins Arena.  Mercer senior guard Djordje Dimitrijevic scored 26 points and sank six 3-pointers on the night as the Bears secured their first SoCon win of the year and moved to 7-11. VMI (5-14, 0-6) was led in scoring by freshman guard Travis Evee with 17 points and senior guard Greg Parham added 13 points for his third straight double figures scoring game.  Keydet sophomore center Jake Stephens got VMI off to a quick start hitting two early threes in helping the Keydets build as much as a 16-point lead at the 8:51 mark of the opening half. Stephens finished with 10 first half points as VMI took a 38-27 lead into the locker room at halftime after converting 11 Mercer turnovers into 16 points and receiving 16 points scoring from Keydet reserves.  After VMI's Camdyn Curfman broke a 52-52 tie with a three-ball, the Bears commenced a crucial 13-0 run second half while the Keydets went into a scoring drought of over four minutes. Dimitrijevic nailed a three-pointer with eight minutes remaining to put Mercer up for good, 57-55, and the spurt grew to a 21-2 run to place the game out of reach for the visitors. VMI was 6-of-13 from beyond the arc for 46.7 percent in the opening half, but cooled down to 3-of-13 in the second half.
 
A win over Mercer would:
--- Earn a split of the regular season series
--- Give VMI back-to-back home conference wins for the first time since February 28-March 2, 2019
 
SERIES HISTORY
VMI vs. Mercer
This will be the 15th meeting between the teams that first met in 2006. Mercer leads the series, 11-3, and has taken five of the last six meetings. The schools split the regular season contests last year - Mercer prevailed 88-68 January 24th in Macon and VMI won the rematch on Lexington, 84-71 on February 28. Mercer claimed the first 2019-20 season meeting, 73-62, in Macon on January 15.