socon tourney vs. furman 2021

Men's Basketball

Keydets Open SoCon Tourney Saturday Night vs. Furman

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LEADING OFF – The VMI Keydets will resume their 2020-21 season Saturday night when they take on the Furman Paladins in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Ingles Southern Conference Basketball Championships presented by General Shale Brick at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Tipoff is slated for 8 pm. The Keydets (12-11, 7-7 SoCon) are eager to get back on the court after having their last three games of the regular season canceled due to COVID testing and quarantining protocols within the program. Saturday's game with Furman (16-10, 10-5 SoCon) will be VMI's first game in 14 days. Ironically, the Keydets were to face Furman in Greenville on Feb. 22, but the game was canceled that morning.  VMI and Furman will be meeting for the second time this season after VMI knocked off the Paladins 73-74 January 20 at Cameron Hall. It marked the first of three SoCon first place teams VMI defeated this season with Wofford and UNCG also falling to the Keydets while at the top of the standings. The VMI-Furman quarterfinal winner will advance to Sunday night's semifinal at 7:30 pm against the winner of Game 5 which will pit Wofford vs. either Samford or Mercer on Saturday afternoon. This will be the 14th time VMI has faced Furman in the Southern Conference tournament with the Paladins holding a 7-6 edge in the meetings. In the last tournament encounter in 2003, VMI topped the Paladins 62-56 in quarterfinal action in North Charleston, South Carolina.  
 
LAST TIME OUT – Senior forward Hayden Brown hit a driving layup with 1.1 seconds remaining to lift The Citadel past VMI 75-74 in Southern Conference basketball action February 20 at McAlister Field House. The Citadel (12-9, 5-9 SoCon) denied VMI a fifth straight win in the series and placed four in double figures scoring led by senior guard Kaiden Rice who scored a game-high 20 points. Brown posted his 12th double-double of the year with 14 points and 14 rebounds while Fletcher Abee contributed 19 points for the hosts. The Keydets were led by junior center Jake Stephens with 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds while guards Greg Parham and Kamdyn Curfman each chipped in 17 points. Myles Lewis pulled down 11 rebounds for his third straight double-digit rebounding game. Abee put the Bulldogs ahead 73-69 with a layup with 1:49 left but the Keydets responded with a Parham banker and three-point play by Lewis that pushed the Keydets ahead 74-73 with 18.2 left. The Citadel brought the ball front court and burned its final timeout with 14 seconds remaining. When play resumed, Brown found an open lane and cut to the goal scoring the game winner with 1.1 left. The Keydets inbounded backcourt for a last chance effort, but Sean Conway's running heave just beyond the mid-court stripe was off the mark.VMI shot a season low 23.3% (7-of-30) from three-point range while the Bulldogs were 6-of-30 beyond the stripe.
 
LAST MEETING WITH FURMAN – January 20, 2021– 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. 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. 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 for his fourth double-double of the season and the fifth of his career. Jalen Slawson had a big night for Furman with 18 points, 14 rebounds and five steals.
 
A win over Furman would:
---Move VMI to the SoCon Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2003.
 
VMI vs. Furman
This will be the 102nd meeting between the teams that first met in 1939. Furman leads the series, 66-35, and had taken the previous ten games in the rivalry before. VMI edged the Paladins 73-74 on January 20 in Lexington.
 
EARL NAMED SOCON COACH OF THE YEAR - VMI head basketball coach Dan Earl has been named 2020-21 SoCon Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and media, the league office announced Wednesday following its postseason awards voting results. Earl, in his sixth season as head coach of the Keydet program, has led VMI to a 12-11 overall mark and 7-7 record in conference competition this season while securing a #6 tournament seed. The 12 victories are the most since 2013-14 and the seven SoCon wins are the most since 2014-15. VMI went 11-1 at home for its most successful season at Cameron Hall in seven years. Earl becomes the first VMI coach to receive SoCon Coach of the Year since Bart Bellairs in 1994-95. 
 
THREE KEYDETS HONORED ON POSTSEASON SQUADS - VMI senior guard Greg Parham (Richmond, Va.) was voted to the All-Southern Conference first team by the media and earned second team honors on the coaches' squad while junior center Jake Stephens (Bunker Hill, W.Va.) earned spots on the All-SoCon second team by the media and third team coaches. Freshman guard Trey Bonham (Mobile, Ala.) was named to the all-freshman team by both media and league coaches.
 
STEPHENS CONTINUES TO ROLL – Junior center Jake Stephens has been a steady presence in the recent Keydet basketball success and has averaged 17.9 points and 8.6 rebounds over his last 13 games. He pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds along with 19 points at The Citadel February 20. Stevens was named SoCon Player of the Week Feb. 9 after a 22-point, nine rebound effort against Wofford Feb. 3. Stephens has five double-doubles on the season. Earlier in January, Stephens scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the 110-103 victory over The Citadel January 16. Stephens is currently ranked third in the SoCon in rebounding (7.8), is third in blocks (1.6) and fourth in free throw shooting at 82.0%, and 12th in scoring (14.7).
 
CURFMAN FINDS TOUCH – VMI sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman has scored in double figures in seven straight games averaging 15.3 points over that span. The sophomore matched his career scoring high with 20 points in the win over UNCG February 17 and hit five three pointers for the third consecutive game, sixth time on the season, and ninth for his career. Curfman has also established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in the SoCon and through 23 games, he is third in the SoCon in 3FG (42.4%) and 3FG made (2.9).
 
PARHAM HITS IN MILESTONE – With eight points against Samford February 13, senior guard Greg Parham became to 42nd player in VMI program history to reach 1,000 career points adding another highlight to a sensational senior season. Parham currently has 1,042 career points. He still leads the SoCon in scoring in league games with a 20.5 PPG average and also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 45.3% mark. Parham also earned the first SoCon player of the month basketball honor for the Keydets since November 2015 by averaging 23.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in eight January contests, and was named SoCon Player of the Week for consecutive weeks in late January becoming the first Keydet since Jayson Bell in 1997-98 to earn SoCon POTW in consecutive weeks. Parham in January assembled a string of seven straight 20+ points games that was halted Jan. 30 with a season-low four points at UNCG, ending a torrid scoring streak. But the Richmond native was back at it against Wofford Feb. 3 with 22 points in the overtime win, and followed with 25 points against UNCG Feb. 17 giving him eleven 20-point games on the year. The last Keydet to string together seven straight 20+ games prior to Parham's recent run was Reggie Williams in 2007-08.
 
LONG RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of February 20, VMI leads the SoCon in three-point percentage (38.8%) and is first in 3FG made per game (11.1) which is second in Division I. The Keydets have drained 10 or more threes in 16 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.
 
STRONG FROM THE STRIPE - Through games of February 20, VMI is second in the SoCon in free throw shooting percentage converting at an 77.9% success rate which ranks 18th in the nation.
 
LEWIS BACK IN FORM – Senior forward Myles Lewis posted his fourth double-double of the season after a 14-point, 10 rebound effort in the win vs. UNCG February 17. Lewis continues to be a force on the boards and is currently ranked second on the Keydets in rebounding averaging 7.4 per game which places fifth on the SoCon. He has pulled down double-digit rebounds his last three games and now has seven games with 10+ rebounds this year.
 
CONWAY DOUBLES UP AGAIN – Sophomore guard Sean Conway produced his second double-double of the season (third career) with 10 points and 10 rebounds at Western Carolina February 10. He also experienced a career day in VMI's 110-103 win over The Citadel Jan. 16 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 51 rebounds over the past five games and also ranks fifth in the SoCon in 3FG percentage at 41.1%.
 
BONHAM SPARKS LINEUP – Freshman point guard Trey Bonham scored a season and career high 20 points against Wofford Jan. 13 in his first start of the year and averaged 11.7 points in seven starts. Bonham, who dished out a season and career-high seven assists against Western Carolina January 27, now has 13 double-figures games on the year. 
 
NOTEWORTHY –VMI knocked off three residing SoCon teams this season (Furman, Wofford, UNCG) …the 11-1 home start was the best home record to start a season since 2013-14 …the Keydets are 11-0 this season when leading with five minutes in regulation and the Feb. 3 Wofford win was the first victory after trailing with 5:00 left in regulation…VMI is 12-6 when it scores more than 71 points and 0-5 when it scores 71 or fewer points…the Keydets are 8-0 when shooting 50% or better from the floor.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

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

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