Looking to start the month of December off strong, the VMI basketball team struggled to keep pace with host Longwood as the Lancers pulled away for a 65-45 win over the Keydets Saturday afternoon at Willett Hall in Farmville, Virginia.
The Lancers’ Lorenzo Phillips exploded in the second half with 23 points after not scoring at all in the opening half. Longwood was spurred with momentum on two separate occasions as the Lancers went on a 15-0 run in the first half and a 17-0 run in the second half.
Longwood also logged 10 offensive boards in the game that led to 13 second chance points and shot 52 percent from the field in the second half while holding VMI to 23.5 percent shooting.
“We had a tough time getting into a rhythm,” VMI coach Dan Earl said. “Starting the game, I don’t know if we had the same pop that we needed to have – we had some turnovers and were a little careless with the ball. Throughout the game we played hard. I just think we couldn’t figure things out. Basketball is about decision making. Credit Longwood. They played very good defense and they were up in us quite a bit and I don’t think we adjusted well.”
VMI sophomore Myles Lewis led the Keydets with 11 points as the only one on the team in double figures. Fellow sophomores Sarju Patel and Bubba Parham scored eight and seven points, respectively.
The Keydets continue their road swing Wednesday night at Virginia Tech slated for a 7 p.m. tip in Blacksburg.
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