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Men's Basketball

Keydets Face Mercer Saturday in Conference Road Action

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LEADING OFF - VMI basketball will wrap up a busy week of action as it faces the Mercer Bears Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Arena in Macon, Georgia. The Keydets enter the game fresh off a dramatic 74-73 win over league power Furman Wednesday night at Cameron Hall. The VMI victory was the first over Furman since the 2014-15 season and handed the Paladins their first league loss. Saturday's game at Mercer will be the fifth game for VMI over the last 11 days. The teams were initially scheduled to meet December 10 in Lexington but that game was postponed due to COVID 19 issues. Senior guard Greg Parham continued his torrid January scoring run with 25 points Wednesday night against Furman – his fifth consecutive 20+ point game and seventh of the season. On Tuesday, Parham was named SoCon Player of the Week for his outstanding play against Wofford, The Citadel and ETSU.
 
LAST TIME OUT – Senior guard Greg Parham delivered 22 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to lift the VMI basketball team to a thrilling 74-73 win over first-place Furman University. Parham, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, was held to just a pair of free throws by the Paladin defense in the game's first 20 minutes but exploded after intermission. With his team trailing 60-58 with 6:29 remaining, Parham scored VMI's next 12 points to give the Keydets a 70-67 advantage with 1:25 on the game clock. He hit two three-pointers in that span, a layup, and two contested floating jumpers in the paint. Furman's Alex Hunter nailed a three-pointer to tie the game, but VMI answered with a layup from senior Myles Lewis with 43 ticks left on a backdoor feed from Parham. Following a defensive stop, junior Jake Stephens hit one of two three throws to make the score 73-70. Hunter was fouled on the other end shooting a trey and sunk all three free-throws with 9.1 seconds left to re-tie the game. Following a timeout, Keydet freshman Trey Bonham drew a foul while driving to the hoop with 3.1 seconds left and made the first of two from the charity stripe. His second free throw bounced off the rim and Furman couldn't connect on a desperation heave from midcourt.  Stephens compiled 15 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots for his fourth double-double of the season and the fifth of his career. Jalen Slawson had a big night for Furman (10-4/4-1 SoCon) with 18 points, 14 rebounds and five steals.
 
LAST MEETING WITH MERCER – January 25, 2020 - VMI tied the score late in the contest, but fell just short as Mercer University (Ga.) defeated the Keydets 69-66 in a Southern Conference game. VMI led by as many as five in the first half and had a 16-14 advantage with 10 minutes remaining. Mercer held the Keydets scoreless over the next five minutes to take a 24-16 lead and had a 28-25 edge entering halftime. The game was tight for the entire second half, and a Jake Stephens layup tied it at 61 all with just under two minutes left on the game clock. Kamar Robertson and Djordje Dimitijevic nailed clutch three pointers for the Bears to make it a six-point game and Dimitijevic sealed the win at the free-throw line. Myles Lewis scored a team-high 14 points, grabbed a season-high nine rebounds with two steals. Greg Parham shot 5-of-7 from the floor for 12 points and handed out four assists while Stephens hit three three-pointers and ended with 11 points. The Keydets shot just 17.6 percent (3-17) from three-point range in the first half and 25.6 percent (10-39) for the game. VMI stayed alive with 19 offensive rebounds, five from Lewis and four by Garrett Gilkeson. Mercer hit 50 percent (11-22) of its threes and 46.3 percent total (25-54).  Dimitijevic fnished with 25 points, five three pointers and six rebounds.
 
A win over Mercer would:
---Give VMI its first road win of the season.
---Move VMI to 4-3 in conference play.
 
VMI vs. Mercer
This will be the 16th meeting between the teams that first met in 2006. Mercer leads the series, 12-3, and has taken six of the last seven meetings. Mercer defeated VMI twice last year, 73-62 in Macon and 69-66 in Lexington. VMI last won in Hawkins Arena on January 2, 2008.
 
PARHAM REVS UP IN CONFERENCE PLAY – Senior guard Greg Parham has stepped up his play in Southern Conference action averaging 25.0 points in six conference contests which tops the league. Parham scored a season-high 29 points against Wofford Jan. 13 also ringing up a career-high seven three-pointers in eight attempts, then followed with 27 points and career-high nine rebounds in the win over The Citadel Jan. 16. Monday against ETSU Parham paced VMI in scoring with 27 points and added another 24 points against Furman Wednesday night giving him seven 20 point+ games this year including his last five games. He also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 51.6% mark. Parham on Tuesday was named SoCon Player of the Week.
 
STEPHENS CONTINUES TO ROLL – Junior center Jake Stephens added another double-double Wednesday night in the win against Furman with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He now has four double-doubles on the year. Last week, Stephens scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the 110-103 victory over The Citadel January 16 and earlier posted double-doubles against George Mason (14 points, 10 rebounds) December 21 and Hampton (11 points, 12 rebounds) December 13. Stephens has hit 48 of his last 56 free throw attempts over the last eight games and is third in the SoCon in free throw shooting at 84.5%.
 
CONWAY ERUPTS vs. THE CITADEL – Sophomore guard Sean Conway produced a career day in VMI's 110-103 win over The Citadel when he posted bests in points (25), rebounds (13) and 3-pointers (7). Against the Bulldogs, Conway hit on 8 of 14 from the floor and was seven of 10 beyond the arc in almost 37 minutes of action. Conway has grabbed 21 rebounds over the past two games after being credited with nine against Wofford January 13.
 
IRON KEYDETS – A quick scan of the box score in VMI's 110-108 win over The Citadel Jan. 16 revealed something quite remarkable. VMI starters accounted for 108 of the 110 points scored and all of the starting five logged at least 33:17 minutes of action. Topping the workload was sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman who was on the floor for 39:23, followed by Greg Parham (38:03), Sean Conway (36:51), Jake Stephens (34:10), and Trey Bonham (33:17).  
 
BONHAM SHINES IN STARTING DEBUT –
Freshman point guard Trey Bonham scored a season and career high 20 points against Wofford Jan. 13 in his first start of the year which gave him his seventh double figures scoring game of the year. Against the Terriers, Bonham also set a new career-high in assists and matched his career best of five rebounds. Bonham added double figures outings in his next three games, all starts, with 14 points against The Citadel, 13 points Monday against ETSU, and 13 points against Furman given him ten double-figures games on the year. 
 
LONG RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of January 21, VMI is second in the SoCon in three-point percentage (40.0%) and second in 3FG made per game (11.3) which is third in Division I. The Keydets have drained 10 or more threes in 11 games this season. VMI hit a season-best 58.8% in 3-point shooting when they dropped in 10 of 17 shots from beyond the arc against Chattanooga January 2.
 
TOPS FROM THE STRIPE - Through games of January 21, VMI is first in the SoCon in free throw shooting percentage converting at an 79.8% success rate which ranks eighth in the nation.
 
EARL GETS #50 – The 84-79 win over Chattanooga January 2 marked the 50th win at VMI for head basketball coach Dan Earl.
 
CURFMAN EXPANDS IMPACT – VMI sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman not only matched his season high 17 points for the fourth time this season in the win over Chattanooga Jan. 2, he also dished out a career-best five assists for the second straight game after handing out five at Samford December 30. Curfman has also established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in the SoCon and has hit a career-best five 3FG in three games this season and six for his career. Through 15 games, Curfman is hitting 43.6 % in 3-point shooting which ranks fourth in the SoCon. 
 
NOTEWORTHY – VMI is currently 7-1 in games when leading at the half and also when outrebounding a foe…the Furman win was the first game this year the Keydets won after trailing at the half…the 8-1 home start is the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 …the Keydets are 8-0 this season when leading with five minutes in regulation…VMI produced at least two 20+ point scorers in three consecutive January games (Chattanooga, Wofford, The Citadel)
 
 
BLOCK PARTY FOR STEPHENS – Junior center Jake Stephens set a new career-best in blocks when he rejected five Samford shots December 30. Stephens currently ranks fourth in the SoCon with 27 blocks (1.8/game).
 
LEWIS DECEMBER DOUBLE STREAK – Senior forward Myles Lewis had his string of three straight double-doubles end on December 15 after 12 points and five rebounds against CU-Harrodsburg. Lewis earlier had posted 14 points and 11 rebounds Sunday against Hampton that followed 17 points and 10 rebounds against Greensboro College Dec. 8. Lewis started the string with 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Dec. 3 game at 16th ranked Virginia Tech. Lewis currently ranks second on the Keydets in rebounding averaging 6.8 per game which ranks fourth in the SoCon.
 
KEYDET CAPSULE LOOK – VMI returns 10 players from last year's roster including three starters. The 2020-21 roster consists of four seniors, two juniors, four sophomores, and five freshmen.
 
EARL ENTERS SIXTH SEASON – VMI head basketball coach Dan Earl enters his sixth season as head coach of the Keydets and is moving into some select company in the Keydet all-time coaching ranks. Earl joins Louis "Weenie Miller (1958-64) and Charlie Schmaus (1976-82) as coaches who reached six seasons at the helm. Only Joe Cantafio (1986-94), Duggar Baucom (2005-15) and Bart Bellairs (1994—05) had longer tenures as basketball head coach at the Institute.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Garrett Gilkeson

#2 Garrett Gilkeson

G
6' 4"
Senior
Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

G
6' 5"
Sophomore
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

G
6' 1"
Sophomore
Myles Lewis

#15 Myles Lewis

G
6' 5"
Senior
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

G
6' 4"
Senior
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

C
6' 10"
Junior
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

G
6' 0"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Garrett Gilkeson

#2 Garrett Gilkeson

6' 4"
Senior
G
Sean Conway

#30 Sean Conway

6' 5"
Sophomore
G
Kamdyn Curfman

#10 Kamdyn Curfman

6' 1"
Sophomore
G
Myles Lewis

#15 Myles Lewis

6' 5"
Senior
G
Greg Parham

#5 Greg Parham

6' 4"
Senior
G
Jake Stephens

#34 Jake Stephens

6' 10"
Junior
C
Trey Bonham

#2 Trey Bonham

6' 0"
Freshman
G