VMI hits the road for the final time in the regular season when it takes on Western Carolina Saturday night at the Ramsey Center. VMI will be looking to rebound from 94-70 setback at home against ETSU Thursday night. The Keydets have three regular season games left in 2018-19 with two slated next week in Lexington. Sophomore guard Bubba Parham enters Saturday's action needing 22 points to become the 41st player in VMI basketball history to score 1,000 points. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Last Time Out: ETSU 94, VMI 70 - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019
Despite a career-high 27 points from VMI sophomore guard/forward Myles Lewis, the visiting East Tennessee State University (ETSU) men's basketball team defeated the Keydets 94-70 in a Southern Conference game Thursday night. The game was tied at 39 all after 20 minutes, but ETSU outscored VMI 55-31 in the second half, including a 17-1 run to start the period. The Buccaneers shot 74 percent from the floor in the second half (20-27). Lewis hit 9-of-18 shots and 9-of-11 from the free-throw stripe en route to his career-high point total. He added five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sophomore guard Sarju Patel hit a pair of three pointers and finished with 12 points, and junior Garrett Gilkeson had nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Freshman center Jake Stephens hit both of his three-point attempts and had eight points. The tough Buccaneer defense held Bubba Parham, the conference's leading scorer with 20.7 points a game, to 0-of-12 shooting and just two points on the night. Bo Hodges led ETSU (22-7/12-4 SoCon) with 26 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Daivien Williamson netted 20 points, while Tray Boyd had 16 of his 18 points after intermission. Mladen Armus cleared 12 rebounds to help the Buccaneers hold a 39-24 edge on the boards. ETSU had a 50-12 advantage in bench scoring and 54-26 in points scored in the paint.
Last Meeting with the Catamounts: VMI 91, Western Carolina 83 (Jan. 19, 2019)
Sophomore guard Bubba Parham scored 33 points to lead VMI to a 91-83 victory over visiting Western Carolina. The game was tight the entire way - with 18 lead changes. VMI held a 47-44 lead at intermission, but the Catamounts forged a 75-73 advantage after a three-pointer by Kameron Gibson at the 5:21 mark. The Keydets went on an 8-0 run, fueled by two three-point plays from freshman center Jake Stephens, one from beyond the arc and the second on a traditional layup and free throw. Western Carolina trimmed the lead to just two (82-80) with under two minutes to play, but a Parham layup made it a four-point game and VMI iced the contest by sinking seven of eight free throws. Sarju Patel finished with 17 points - 13 in the second half, with four rebounds. Stephens contributed 16 points and two blocked shots, while Myles Lewis netted 13 points. VMI's 18 assists was the second-highest total this season against a Division I foe, and their six turnovers tied its season-low on the year. Western Carolina had three players reach the 20-point mark: Onno Steger (27), Matt Halvorsen (23) and Gibson (20).
A win over Western Carolina would ...
-- Give VMI a season sweep over WCU
-- Be VMI's second road victory of the year
Series History – VMI vs. Western Carolina
This will be the 56th meeting between the teams that first met in 1953. WCU leads the series, 33-22, and has taken three of the last four meetings including wins 65-58 (Cullowhee, N.C.) and 72-60 (Lexington, Va.) last year. VMI will be going for the season sweep over the Catamounts after dispatching them in Lexington, 91-83, on January 19.
Lewis has Career Scoring Night (Again)
Sophomore guard/forward Miles Lewis turned in a another career scoring night against ETSU February 21 when he tallied a career high 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field against the Bucs and grabbed eight rebounds. One week earlier at Wofford on February 14 Lewis scored a then-career-high 22 points against the Terriers. Lewis also had a solid performance in the Jan. 19 85-82 loss at ETSU missing his first double-double by a single rebound. Lewis hit 7 of 14 shots from the floor and finished with 17 points and also tied a career-high in rebounds with nine versus ETSU. He has 17 double figures scoring games on the year and had averaged 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds over a ten-game stretch between Jan. 10-Feb.14 including nine double-figures scoring games.
