tatum vs. wcu
Paul Bouis
81
Winner Western Caro. WCU 12-15,8-8 SoCon
62
VMI VMI 6-23,1-15 SoCon
Winner
Western Caro. WCU
12-15,8-8 SoCon
81
Final
62
VMI VMI
6-23,1-15 SoCon
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Western Caro. WCU 38 43 81
VMI VMI 30 32 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Keydets close home schedule with loss to Western Carolina

LEXINGTON, Va. – The VMI basketball team overcame a slow start to fight its way back into contention midway through the second half but could not quite overcome the deficit as visiting Western Carolina earned an 81-62 win over the Keydets Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.
 
Game Summary
The Catamounts (12-15, 8-8) built a quick 16-point lead at 25-9 with 9:05 to play in the first half before the Keydets (6-23, 1-15) worked their way back to an eight-point deficit at 38-30 at the half.
 
Western's Tidjiane Dioumassi powered the Catamounts to their lead behind nine points while VMI's Cal Liston countered with three first-half treys and nine points to keep the Keydets in contention at the break.
 
A Tahlan Pettway three-pointer put the Catamounts back up by 16 points at the 14:19 mark of the second half to force a VMI timeout to slow the WCU momentum.
 
The timeout proved effective as VMI worked its way back to just an eight-point deficit at the 9:24 mark down 57-49 with plenty of time to play.  The Keydets stayed within eight points two minutes later (7:17) following a Tan Yildizoglu jump shot, but Cord Stansberry and Pettway combined for three consecutive treys on ensuing WCU possessions to build the lead back up for the Catamounts to allow them to pull away down the stretch.
 
Key Stats
*VMI's Walker Andrews led the Keydets with 13 points on the day behind three treys while Liston and TJ Johnson both had 12 points.
*Liston matched his career high with four threes during the contest and Johnson contributed a team-high seven rebounds.
*Western's Stansberry finished with a double-double by scoring a game-high 17 points to go with 11 boards
*WCU's Samuel Dada nearly had a double-double by pouring in 14 points to go with nine rebounds. Dioumassi (15), Pettway (11) and Marcus Kell (10) also scored in double figures for the Catamounts
*Western outscored VMI 28-16 in the paint and had 13 second-chance points from 10 offensive rebounds
 

 
Up Next
The Keydets finish up the regular season next week on the road when they face Samford Thursday at 8 pm EST and Chattanooga Saturday at 2 p.m.
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
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