holmstrom at mercer
Mercer Athletics
80
Winner VMI VMI 13-14,7-7 SoCon
71
Mercer Mercer 11-16,4-10 SoCon
Winner
VMI VMI
13-14,7-7 SoCon
80
Final
71
Mercer Mercer
11-16,4-10 SoCon
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
VMI VMI 36 44 80
Mercer Mercer 34 37 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

VMI earns big road win over Mercer

MACON, Ga. – Looking for important league wins with the SoCon Tournament just three weeks away, the VMI basketball team picked up a big win over host Mercer Saturday night as the Keydets prevailed, 80-71, at Hawkins Arena in Macon, Georgia.
 
With the win, VMI improves to 13-14 overall and 7-7 in conference play while the Bears fall to 11-16, 4-10. The seven league wins marks the most in conference for VMI since the 2021-22 season and also snaps a five-game losing skid to the Bears. It was also VMI's first win in Macon since January 2, 2008, before the schools became colleagues in the SoCon in 2014. The win was significant in that it was only VMI's fifth ever win against Mercer out of 25 all-time contests.
 

 
Game Summary
VMI came out strong in the opening half and quickly built a 10-point lead at the 12:16 mark of the opening stanza. The Bears clawed their way back before the half and eventually came within two points as the Keydets entered the halftime break with only a 36-34 advantage.
 
The schools were evenly matched early in the second half and locked into a 45-45 tie with 14:37 left in regulation and again at 63-63 with 4:18 on the clock.  The Keydets clamped down on defense in the final minutes while hitting big shots down the stretch to help VMI pull away.
 
A Linus Holmstrom three with 2:46 left gave VMI a 69-65 lead before TJ Johnson matched his career-high fifth trey of the game with 1:56 left to give the Keydets a 72-67 advantage. The Keydets hit their free throws over the final two minutes and AJ Clark came up with two big steals in the last minute to seal the deal for VMI with an 80-71 league victory on the road.
 

 
Key Stats
*Rickey Bradley, Jr. scored a game-high 22 points and came within one rebound of his first double-double as he converted five field goals and went 10-12 from the charity stripe
*Three other Keydets scored in double figures, including TJ Johnson (19), Augustinas Kiudulas (18) and AJ Clark (10)
*Johnson hit five threes during the game – including four in the first half – to go with five rebounds, an assist and two steals
*Kiudulas hit five field goals on the night, including one three, in addition to going a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe. He also contributed six board, two assists and two steals
*AJ Clark made four big steals on the night – including two in the final minute- and one that led to a breakaway dunk in the opening half
*Tyler Johnson led the Bears with 19 points during the contest, while Jah Nze also logged double figures with 10 points
*Mercer outshot VMI 45 to 40 percent from the field, but VMI hit 11 threes while the Bears converted just three out of 24 attempts (12 percent)
 
VMI Head Coach Andrew Wilson

 
Up Next
The Keydets return home to face Wofford College Wednesday night at 6 p.m. seeking their third league opponent sweep of the season
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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