No. 2 North VMI got 79 points from the trio of Stan Okoye, D.J. Covington and Rodney Glasgow, overcoming Michael Kessens’ tournament-record 36 points and a furious second-half comeback by No. 6 North Longwood. The Keydets prevailed 90-86 in an action-packed quarterfinal VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Men’s Basketball Championship tilt, Thursday afternoon at The HTC Center.
VMI (14-16) reaches the semifinal round for the third straight year, where the Keydets will face No. 1 South Charleston Southern, Saturday at 12:00 p.m. VMI became the fourth team in tournament history to have three players score 20 or more points in a game, as Big South Player of the Year Okoye finished with 31, Covington added 26 and Glasgow chipped in 22.
Longwood’s first season in the Big South Conference ends with an 8-25 record, despite Kessens’ career-high 36 points and 15 rebounds. The freshman broke the tournament single-game record of 35 points previously held by Liberty’s Jamaal Bennett (1999 vs. UNC Asheville) and Radford’s Kenny Thomas (2009 vs. UNC Asheville) on a free throw with 53 seconds remaining.
VMI’s cushion stood at 17 points (72-55) with 11:51 left prior to a 10-0 run by the Lancers which initiated their comeback. Kessens’ driving layup brought Longwood to within 72-65 at 8:47.
The Lancers went on a late 9-2 surge, pulling to within 88-86 on a Lucas Woodhouse perimeter jumper with 14 seconds left. VMI then sealed its third win over Longwood this season with a Brian Brown offensive rebound and free throw followed by a Glasgow steal and free throw during the final six seconds.
The lead changed hands seven times before VMI fashioned a 12-0 first-half run, taking a 36-27 lead on Okoye’s layup with 5:41 remaining in the period.
The Keydets’ advantage reached 14 points twice before they took a 55-43 lead into the locker room at halftime. VMI’s 55 first-half points tied for the third most in a Big South quarterfinal game.
Okoye racked up 25 of his points points and grabbed five rebounds during the opening half, while Kessens (19 points, 8 rebounds) starred for Longwood before the break.
For the game, Longwood owned a slight advantage in field goal percentage, making 50 percent (29-of-58) of its attempts to VMI’s 47.5 percent (29-of-61). Both teams made seven triples and were also proficient from the foul line. The Lancers connected at an 84 percent (21-of-25) clip from the charity stripe, while the Keydets were 83.3 percent (25-of-30).
Longwood outrebounded the Keydets, 41-28, but VMI committed only four turnovers on the afternoon.
Okoye, who hit 12 of his 14 free throw attempts, grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. During his 25-point first half, he passed High Point’s Nick Barbour as the fourth-leading scorer in conference history, with 2,134 career points.
Kessens was one of four Lancers to score in double digits, where he was joined by Woodhouse (16 points, game-high nine assists), Karl Ziegler (11 points) and Tristan Carey (10 points).
Post-Game Quotes
VMI Head Coach Duggar Baucom
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Longwood for really competing. We had them down 17, but Mike’s group really competed and made it really hard on us. Thank goodness for my point guard Rodney Glasgow making a big free throw down the stretch and making big plays all day long.
“Our goal yesterday when we left practice was to make Stan (Okoye) practice one more day. We achieved that.
“For the third-straight game, Rod (Glasgow) did a great job (defensively). Today he held (Tristan) Carey to 10 points on eight shots. ”
VMI senior Stan Okoye (moved into 4th in Big South history with 2,134 points)
“The most important thing is to take it one game at a time and focus on Charleston Southern, not worry about the championship game.”
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