American led by as many as 14, and kept VMI at bay from there to post a 69-61 win on Tuesday night.
The Keydets (5-7) stayed within shouting distance of the Eagles (8-2) for the most part, narrowing a 14-point deficit to five on two occasions, the last time on a four-point play by Asher Woods with 6:57 to go.
Tony Felder scored 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting for VMI, and Woods added 14.
The VMI bench put up a goose egg on the night.
American got 20 points from Matt Rogers.
The Eagles were 14-of-34 (41.2 percent) from three.
“Credit to American – they are really good,” VMI coach Andrew Wilson said. “We didn’t play our best tonight, and they had something to do with it. I thought they had a great gameplan. They were very worried about us shooting the three, and they did a great job of forcing us into something else.”