Depleted VMI steals win from host Liberty

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 27, 2008

Well, at least Reggie Williams was healthy. VMI couldn’t say that the last time it played Liberty.
But as the Keydets boarded the bus in Lexington Tuesday for the quick trip to the Vines Center, they had other problems. Guard Travis Holmes had a bum ankle. Forward Willie Bell’s right foot was stuck in a walking boot. Freshman guard Christian Hunter had mononucleosis.

In short, VMI had no business picking up an important road victory. But it did just that, rallying from six down in the final 5:10 to beat Liberty 81-79.

“I guess we’ve got a lot of heart,“ said VMI forward Reggie Williams, who scored 34 points on 15 of 26 shooting.

Liberty lost its “heart” with 3:01 left, as Kyle Ohman tried to take a charge from Williams but instead was called for a blocking foul, his fifth. Williams, who hit the shot, converted the three-point play, giving VMI (14-13, 6-7 Big South) the lead for good at 74-73.

Flames coach Ritchie McKay called the foul a turning point in the game.

“When we lost Kyle, we lost our execution, our togetherness, our little things guy,“ McKay said. “From there, we were playing not to lose, instead of to win. We didn’t execute a couple of switches, didn’t take a couple of charges. Then you get that result.“

Liberty (14-15, 6-7), which trailed 19-6 in the first half, had chances. It pulled within 78-77 with 1:35 left on B.J. Jenkins’ only basket of the game. The Flames forced Williams into a tough shot on the other end, but the rebound caromed off the fingers of LU forward Alex McLean and out of bounds, giving VMI another crack. Williams hit a free throw to push the lead to 79-77.

On the next possession, Liberty point guard TeeJay Bannister fired a cross-court pass to Jeremy Anderson in the left corner, but the freshman’s 3-point attempt with 18 seconds left sailed over the rim. VMI rebounded the air ball, and Quinn Brownfield hit two free throws to put the Keydets ahead 81-77.

After Anthony Smith, who scored a team-high 23 points for Liberty, hit a bucket with 4.2 seconds left, VMI’s Hunter missed two free throws. But with only two seconds left and no timeouts left for the Flames, VMI defended Liberty’s inbounds play from the sideline perfectly, and the only shot LU had was Bannister’s half-court heave at the buzzer, which missed.

“We have such a slim margin for error anyway,“ VMI coach Duggar Baucom said. “But credit the guys that played. They all played big minutes, and you’ve got to against those guys (Liberty). They’re just so talented.“

Liberty, which needed to win twice at home this week to secure a home game in next week’s Big South tournament, lost its second straight at the Vines Center after an 11-0 home start and its third straight overall. Neither coach was interested in figuring out the muddled conference tournament picture. Five teams stand within a game of each other in the fight for two home games.

Winthrop (9-3) and UNC Asheville (8-4) have already secured home berths.

“We made the road tough on ourselves again,“ Bannister said. “We’ve messed up opportunities all year.“

The Flames, who have played with a seven-man rotation for the majority of the season, have hit a mental and physical wall, McKay said, one he’s not entirely sure how to get his team over. Liberty will have three days to prepare for Saturday’s regular-season finale against Radford.

“We had six of the last eight on the road, and our two home games were against Asheville and Winthrop,“ McKay said. “Then we played a VMI team that runs (an up-tempo offense). We’re dead, physically and mentally worn. We’re just a tired team that’s lost a little bit of confidence, because we’re not playing with leads any more. Everything is from behind.“

TIP-INS: Bannister notched his 200th assist of the season with an alley-oop pass to Smith in the second half. He became the first Big South player since Dan Pogue of Campbell in 1994 , and fifth player in league history, to hit the 200 mark. High Point’s Mike Jefferson (193) will likely become the sixth this week. ? Alex McLean scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds for his 14th double-double. ? Smith tied a career-high in rebounds with 11. ? VMI reached 14 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since doing it three straight years between 1976-78.