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Furious VMI rally falls short in 65-62 loss to Wofford

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vmi_logo2Trailing by 20 early in the second half did not stop the Virginia Military Institute basketball team from mounting a comeback, eventually tying the score at 60 with just over a minute left in regulation. But visiting Southern Conference foe Wofford College capitalized on late turnovers to hold on to a 65-62 win at Cameron Hall.

VMI (8-16, 4-8 Southern Conference) put together a 16-2 run over a seven-minute stretch to tie the game, holding the league-leading Terriers off the board for a pair of long stretches, including a four-minute drought.

Two costly turnovers by the Keydets in the final minute allowed Wofford, which has now won seven straight games, to hit three free throws and a layup to seal its 20th win this season.

Wofford (20-5, 11-1 SoCon) was paced by Karl Cochran, who had a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds, including 10 on defense. Spencer Collins finished with 10 points, while Lee Skinner was one point shy of double digit points.

The Keydets put two players in double digit scoring, led by Brian Brown’s 14, going four-of-eight from beyond the three point line, including a trey with 1:15 left in the game to tie the score 60-60. Jordan Weethee also hit double digits with 11 points while adding four rebounds.

Defensively, Phillip Anglade led the charge for VMI with four blocks and nine rebounds, while adding nine points to his stat line. The Keydets pressured Wofford into 11 turnovers, eight of which came in the second half. After struggling to a 42-24 first half, in which the Terriers hit 50 percent of their shots, VMI buckled down on defense, holding Wofford to just eight-of-26 in the second half. Conversely, VMI shot 30.8 percent in the first 20 minutes, followed by 15-of-36 in the second stanza (41.7 percent).

Both teams finished with seven steals, with a trio of Keydets, Anglade, Weethee and Christian Burton, grabbed two each. Cochran had four of Wofford’s seven steals, while C.J. Neumann added three steals with six points.

It was a much improved shooting effort for VMI, which ended with a 37.1 shooting percentage (23-62) after hitting just 22 percent if its shots Tuesday night against UNCG. VMI went 75 percent from the free throw line, hitting six of their eight chances.

Wofford jumped out to an early lead, going up 19-8 on a Cochran layup with 12:09 showing on the clock in the first half. Midway through the first stanza, Wofford went on a 7-0 run to expand its lead to 28-11.

VMI struggled to get into a shooting rhythm in the first half, missing seven straight field goals over a five minute stretch before Brown ended the drought with a three pointer with 5:30 left in the first half. The Terriers continued to build their lead however, taking an 18-point, 40-22 lead with less than a minute on the clock.

Wofford’s Skinner hit two free throws in the first minute to get to its biggest lead of the day, 44-24. Both teams traded blows over the next seven minutes before VMI’s 16-2 run was started by an Anglade layup with 8:13 to play in regulation.

VMI’s defense terrorized the Terriers during the run, forcing nine missed field goals, along with two turnovers and one steal. The Keydet fast offense was blistering during the stretch as well, hitting seven of its nine field goals, capped by Brown’s three from the corner to tie the game at 60.

Late VMI turnovers and sharp Wofford free throw shooting hurt the Keydets in the end as the defending Southern Conference champions held on to a 65-62 win. Cochren’s theft of a VMI pass and breakaway layup gave the Terriers a 63-60 with 44 seconds left and a pair of free throws by C.J. Neumann with :12 left closed the door on the Keydet rally.

VMI rounds out its five-game homestand, its longest stretch of games at Cameron Hall since playing six in 1995-96, with Furman University Thursday night. Tipoff for the February 12 game is set for 7 p.m. in Lexington.

Quotes – VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom
“We were down 20 with 19 minutes to go and finally the switch went off. It was a feeling like, hey, we can play with these guys. Brian Brown was leading us and I thought Jordan Weethee gave us a huge game. Just proud of all the guys that took the floor.”

“In the second half we had great energy especially from that second group that ran out there. We tried different things to create sparks, but we went back to our old identity and that’s what got it back to where we needed to be.

“We can live with 7 of 17 from 3-point in the second half. We’ll take that anytime. The guys have been spending a lot of time in the gym trying to get the shots up. It’s hard to do what we do without making shots.”

“They had the answer for Phil Anglade today and trapped him every time, but he still gave us a chance at the end with the layup.”

“I thought we did an amazing job in the second half with offensive rebounding and we scored on some of those and they gave us extended possessions.”

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