Box Score CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern looks to get back to the .500 mark in Big South Conference play on Saturday when it travels to oppose VMI. Tipoff at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va. is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Game 23 Notes: Charleston Southern at VMI
CSU (10-12, 4-5 BSC) starts a stretch of five out of seven games on the road to end the regular season with a tough road test against a VMI (13-9, 6-3 BSC) team tied for the Big South's North Division lead. While the Bucs enter off a difficult home loss to Radford on Wednesday, the Keydets come in off a wild – to say the least – 108-104 quadruple overtime win at Gardner-Webb. VMI hit buzzer beaters at the end of regulation and the conclusion of the second and third overtimes before prevailing in the fourth extra session.
The matchup pits the first and eighth leading scoring offenses in the country, and VMI's run-and-gun attack has posted 100 or more points in four of its six league wins. Both clubs thrive on the three-point shot, with CSU ranking second nationally and VMI 7th in made threes per game.
VMI and ninth-year head coach Duggar Baucom are paced in the scoring column by freshman QJ Peterson, who is the Big South's top scorer with 21.1 points per game and gets to the free throw line almost seven times a night. Senior point guard Rodney Glasgow has been the catalyst, though, for the Keydets averaging over 19 points a game while handing out 121 assists and compiling the 9th best assist-to-turnover mark in the nation. Fellow senior D.J. Covington gives VMI a legitimate inside presence, as the 6'9" post averages 16.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and almost three blocked shots a game.
"VMI always presents a challenge with their style of play and Duggar has them playing really well," CSU head coach Barclay Radebaugh said. "Glasgow is having a great year and their big three is as good as it gets in our league. We're really going to have to come and defend to have a chance to win on the road."
CSU had a chance to win on Wednesday against Radford, but the Highlanders ripped off a 9-0 run following the final media timeout to take a five-point lead and held on down the stretch to hand the Bucs their third conference home loss of the season. Radford's Javonte Green was the difference in the contest, tallying six of his career-high 33 points during the decisive spurt. He added 11 rebounds, and came up with several crucial offensive caroms in the final minutes.
"Green and Radford made some big plays late and we didn't," Radebaugh said. "We've been right there in a lot of games, but we have to do a better job of late-game execution and finding a way to win at the end."
CSU senior Sheldon Strickland paced the Bucs with 17 points in the loss to Radford, while fellow guards Matt Kennedy and Arlon Harper chipped in 16 and 13. The Bucs were playing without junior point guard Saah Nimley, who sat out due to injury for a second straight game. CSU did get a lift at times from both Malcolm Bernard and Cedrick Bowen. Bernard matched a career-high with nine rebounds and added eight points, while Bowen scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.
The Bucs defeated the Keydets in both meetings between the two sides last year. CSU won convincingly, 92-69, even without Nimley, last February at the Buc Dome. They then rallied from a nine-point first half deficit to top VMI and earn their way into the Big South Championship final game.
VMI won the last contest between the two sides in Lexington in February of 2012, upending CSU, 90-81. This is the last regular season contest between the two programs as Big South Conference mates, as VMI will re-join the Southern Conference next year.
Following Saturday's game, CSU remains on the road as it takes on High Point on Thursday night.
