stephens vs- furman socon tourney
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Men's Basketball

VMI Basketball Faces Mercer in SoCon Tourney Semifinals

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LEADING OFF – The VMI Keydets will take on the Mercer Bears Sunday night in the semifinals 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 7:30 pm. and the game will be carried on ESPNU. The Keydets (13-11, 7-7 SoCon) pulled off a dramatic come from behind 91-90 OT win over #3 seed Furman Saturday night to punch their ticket to the SoCon semifinals for the first time since 2003. VMI trailed by 15 points with under nine minutes remaining but rallied to pull closer and subsequently scored the last 10 points of regulation to force an overtime session that eventually extended their stay in Asheville. It was VMI basketball's first action since February 20 after COVID issues forced the cancellation their last three games of the regular season. With Saturday's win, the Keydets assured themselves of a winning season, their first since 2013-14 when the VMI went 22-14 and advanced to the semifinals of the CIT as members of the Big South Conference. VMI and Mercer will be meeting for only the second time in SoCon tournament history as the Bears took a quarterfinal match-up, 81-69 in 2014-15. This season Mercer held on to prevail 83-80 in Macon on January 23 in the only regular season meeting between the schools. The VMI-Mercer semifinal winner will advance to Monday night's championship final against the winner of UNCG/ETSU in Sunday's other semifinal.
 
LAST TIME OUT – Down by 10 with just over three minutes to play in regulation, the VMI basketball team made a furious rally to knot the score at 80 apiece to force overtime and eventually pulled out a 91-90 overtime victory over No. 3 seed Furman Saturday night. Senior guard Greg Parham converted a pair of free throws at the 3:08 mark and a minute later scored a jumper to trim the Furman lead to 80-74 with 2:13 on the clock. On VMI's next possession, Parham converted a three-pointer at the top of the arc to make it 80-77 with 1:28 to go. The Paladins (16-9, 10-5) milked the clock but missed a three-point attempt by Noah Gurley with one minute to play. On the other end, Sean Conway found a wide-open Jake Stephens in three-point range and the Bunker Hill, W.Va. native sunk it to tie the game at 80 apiece with 33 seconds to play.  Furman's Gurley missed a jumper to win the game and the overtime period was forced. VMI senior Myles Lewis kicked it up a notch in the overtime period to score VMI's next six points, including a layup, a huge steal that led to another layup in transition, and a short jumper to pull VMI ahead 86-82 with 2:43 to play. Parham scored a jumper to make the game 88-82 before Furman's Alex Hunter converted a three. Parham was then fouled with 1:10 left and converted both free throws to make it 90-85. Furman's Clay Mounce quickly scored a three to cut the VMI lead to 90-88 with 0:57 on the clock. Stephens was fouled, missed his first free throw but converted the second in what turned out to be the difference with two seconds remaining. The Paladins' full-court heave was received by Gurley, who spun around and converted an 18-footer from the baseline but was unable to shoot from the intended three-point range to tie the game. Stephens finished the game with 25 points while Parham ended with 21. Furman was paced by Gurley's 30 points.
 
LAST MEETING WITH MERCER – January 23, 2021– Redshirt junior forward Felipe Haase scored 23 points and hit two 3-point shots in the final 1:38 of regulation to lead Mercer to an 83-80 Southern Conference win over VMI in Macon, Georgia. The Keydets fell despite 26 points from senior guard Greg Parham. The Bears twice built nine-point leads midway in the second half and led 63-54 after a Ross Cummings jumper with 9:55 left. VMI responded with an 11-3 run and pulled within 66-65 when senior forward Myles Lewis converted a 3-point play with a dunk and free throw at the 6:20 mark. A win over Furman would: Redshirt junior forward Felipe Haase scored 23 points and hit two 3-point shots in the final 1:38 of regulation to lead Mercer to an 83-80 Southern Conference win over VMI Saturday afternoon in Macon, Georgia. The Keydets fell despite 26 points from senior guard Greg Parham who notched his sixth straight 20-point game and eighth of the season. The Bears twice built nine-point leads midway in the second half and led 63-54 after a Ross Cummings jumper with 9:55 left. VMI responded with an 11-3 run and pulled within 66-65 when senior forward Myles Lewis converted a 3-point play with a dunk and free throw at the 6:20 mark.
 
A WIN OVER MERCER WOULD ...
 ---Move VMI to the SoCon Tournament finals for the first time since 1988. It would be VMI's first conference tournament championship game since 2012 when VMI was a member of the Big South Conference.
 
VMI vs. Mercer
This will be the 17th meeting between the teams that first met in 2006. Mercer leads the series, 13-3, and has taken seven of the last eight meetings. Mercer defeated VMI 83-80 earlier this season on January 23 in Macon. In SoCon tournament action, the teams have played just once with Mercer winning a quarterfinal game in Asheville, 81-69, on March 7, 2015.
 
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 13-11 overall mark and 7-7 record in conference competition this season while securing a #6 tournament seed. The 13 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 18.4 points and 8.6 rebounds over his last 14 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 (7.9), is third in blocks (1.7) and fourth in free throw shooting at 81.7%, and 12th in scoring (15.2).
 
CURFMAN FINDS TOUCH – VMI sophomore guard Kamdyn Curfman has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight 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 24 games, he is fifth in the SoCon in 3FG (40.9%) and 3FG made (2.8).
 
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 1,063 career points. He led the SoCon in scoring in league games with a 20.5 PPG average and also tops the SoCon in 3-point percentage with a 44.4% 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. The last Keydet to string together seven straight 20+ games prior to Parham's recent run was Reggie Williams in 2007-08. Parhan now has twelve 20-point+ games on the year.
 
LONG RANGE ACCURACY – Through games of March 6, 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 17 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 March 6, VMI is second in the SoCon in free throw shooting percentage converting at an 78.0% success rate which ranks 20th 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 7.1 per game which places sixth on the SoCon.
 
CONWAY DOUBLES UP AGAIN – Sophomore guard Sean Conway produced his third double-double of the season (fourth career) in the SoCon tourney win over Furman March 6 with 12 points and 12 rebounds. He earlier added second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds at Western Carolina February 10. Conway 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.
 
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 14 double-figures games.
 
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 13-6 when it scores more than 71 points and 0-5 when it scores 71 or fewer points…the Keydets are 9-0 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