Men's Basketball Southern Conference

SoCon Men's Basketball Results, Dec. 1, 2002

Davidson 114, Washington College 51

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Freshman Matt McKillop scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting to lead Davidson to its second straight blowout victory, defeating the Shoremen of Washington (Md.) College, 114-51.

It was the second straight day the Wildcats (3-1) scored 100 points, trouncing Washington & Lee on Saturday, 105-48. The last time Davidson reached the century mark in consecutive games was in December of 1973 to start the season. Washington College fell to 1-3 on the season.

As a team, Davidson converted 59.7 percent of its shots (40-of-67), one day after hitting better than 61 percent against W&L. The Wildcats also enjoyed excellent range on the afternoon, drilling 13-of-23 three-pointers (56.5 percent), including 5-of-7 from McKillop.

The Davidson defense was just as staggering against the Shoremen as it had been against Washington & Lee yesterday. Washington College managed to shoot just 28.3 percent from the floor. And without a player taller than 6-4 on their roster, the Shoremen were completely overwhelmed on the boards as Davidson grabbed 55 to Washington's 21.

The Shoremen were able to jump out to an early 4-1 lead on buckets by Andrew Gentile and Colin Camacho. But the Wildcats reeled off 15 straight points to begin the rout. Davidson also put together runs of 13 and 11 points in the first half to take a 54-26 advantage at the intermission.

When the second half started, Davidson did not let up with a 15-2 stretch over the first seven minutes.

"I was very pleased with our play today," said Davidson head coach Bob McKillop, father of Matt. "These past two games we have been able to get our shooters some confidence and the freshmen some valuable minutes on the court."

Besides Matt McKillop, five other Wildcats scored in double figures. Senior point guard Wayne Bernard tallied 17 to go along with six assists, while fellow senior Peter Anderer collected 15 points. Senior center Michel Lusakueno contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, freshman forward Ian Johnson had his fourth straight game with in double figures with 12 points, and sophomore Conor Grace had his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

For the Shoremen, David Horvath had 11 points, and Travis Moore came off the bench to post 10.

Davidson will continue its six-game homestand on Dec. 5 when James Madison comes to Belk Arena. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. Washington College, meanwhile, heads home for a game against Wesley on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m.

VMI 76, St. Francis (Pa.) 59

LORETTO, Pa. - Junior guard Ben Rand scored 19 points, including 17 in the second half, to help rally VMI to a 76-59 win over St. Francis (Pa.) Sunday afternoon in Loretto, Pa.

Jason Conley led all scorers 28 points on 11 of 18 shooting, while Rand finished six of eight from the floor including three of four beyond the arc.

VMI trailed 34-21 at halftime, but hit its first five 3-point shot attempts after intermission to key a 25-11 run. Rand keyed the outburst with a trio of 3-balls in the stretch, while Conley and Richard Little hit the other treys. Keydets took their first lead since early in the first half when Conley hit a pair of free throws to put VMI up 46-45, with 11:41 remaining.

St. Francis briefly took the lead on the next possession when Darshan Luckey hit two free throws to put the Red Flash up by one, but the Keydets took the lead for good when Little hit a layup to give VMI a 48-47 at the 10:49 mark.

VMI, which shot 76.0% (19-25) in the second half after only hitting 36.4% in the first half, led by three points (57-54) when Guy Saragba hot two free throws with 5:12 left, but the Keydets responded with 13-0 run capped by a pair of Rand free throws at the :25 mark. The Keydet lead grew to as much as 18 points (74-56) on a dunk by Zach Batte with :45 remaining.

The Keydets hit nine of 10 free throws in the last 3:22 to slam the door shut.

St. Francis was led by Darshan Luckey with 23 points. Erick Wills added nine points for the Red Flash (1-2).

St. Francis raced to a 9-2 lead by hitting its first three treys and took a 9-2 lead at 18:09 mark, but VMI responded with an 8-0 run to take a brief, 10-9, lead. The Red Flash then reeled off ten unanswered points over over the next four minutes and built a 13-point lead at intermission. The Keydets aided their opponents by committing 13 first-half turnovers, but calmed down with just eight turnovers in the second half.

VMI outscored the Red Flash 55-25 in the second half and held them to 25.% (7-28) from the field. St Francis finished the game 41.9% from the field.

The Keydets (2-1) face Virginia Tech Thursday night in Blacksburg at 7:00 p.m. St. Francis plays Youngstown St. Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

VMI HEAD COACH BART BELLAIRS - "We had a small, hardcore group of alumni and fans that were really rowdy behind our bench. That really helped. I don't think our kids ever quit They really bounced back. We won this game on the defensive end which created opportunities. We did the little things well like rebounding and free throw shooting. It's amazing that we took just 47 shots but ended up with our most points on the year. It was a great effort. It was cold up here today and little hard to get going, but maybe we grew up a little bit today. I was pleased with our shot selection - we had five players go 50% or better from the floor."