The weekend’s winter storm postponed VMI’s scheduled Saturday game with UT-Chattanooga because of snow and ice in Lexington.
Monday night inside Cameron Hall, a deep freeze from the Keydet shooting led to more problems against the visiting Furman Paladins.
Going cold in the last 7:47 of the first half, and nearly duplicating the inefficiency in the final five minutes of the game, VMI came up short in the 68-56 SoCon loss to Furman.
“We just went on runs where we couldn’t make shots,” Keydet junior guard QJ Peterson said after the disappointing setback. “Furman hit crucial buckets late in the game when the shot clock was winding down. They had it going in. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.”
For the first 12 minutes of the contest it was nip-and-tuck between the two teams. When VMI junior forward Trey Chapman converted on an old-fashion 3-point play with 7:47 left, the Keydets went up 18-17.
Just as quickly, it looked like a lid was placed on the VMI basket.
Furman found itself with the hot hand, going on a 17-2 run to close the half that sent teams to the break with the Paladins ahead 34-20. Furman shot a blazing 61.9% from the field in the first twenty minutes, nearly double the 32% accuracy from VMI.
“It’s tough when you’re not making shots,” VMI head coach Dan Earl said. “But, you can’t allow your offense to affect your defense. Furman has some talented guards that can drive the ball. We went through a really big drought in the first half and it really hurt us.”
“Give Furman credit. They can shoot it well and they shot it well.”
Furman guards Devin Sibley and Stephen Croone provided most of the damage, scoring 19 and 18 points, respectfully.
In typical VMI fashion, the Keydets valiantly fought back after the break.
The Keydets kept chipping away, and when VMI junior guard Julian Eleby scored early in the second half, the Keydets had closed the deficit to 36-28 as the raucous cadets in attendance could smell a comeback.
But, Furman answered with a 13-0 run to go up 49-28, and VMI could get no closer than 7 points the rest of the way.
The Keydets got to within 61-51 with 4:35 left, but VMI went cold down the stretch, scoring only a pair of free throws by Peterson and an uncontested 3-pointer by Eleby in the final seconds.
“You can’t dig yourself that big of a hole,” Earl noted. “We fought hard in the second half and the bench gave us some good minutes. I’m proud of them at least for responding. We need everyone affecting the game in a positive way.”
“We need to come out with a lot more energy,” Peterson added. “We need to shoot the ball better and the defense needs to take care of the offense.”
Peterson finished with a team-high 16 points for VMI, while Eleby knocked down 12 for the Keydets.
VMI now faces back-to-back road games at Mercer and The Citadel before returning to Cameron Hall on February 4th to face East Tennessee State in a 7pm tipoff.
Bill Turner
