Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
2-0
VMI
1-1
Men's Basketball Downs VMI to Win Tournament
November 16, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Junior forward Kyle Wilson was named the tournament's most valuable player, while he and classmate Tanner Plomb were selected to the all-tournament team. Army made its first trip to the title game in four seasons by beating Air Force on Friday night and started its season at 2-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign. Five Army players scored in double figures, led by Wilson's and Plomb's respective 19 and 18-point efforts. Tanner Omlid had 12, Kevin Ferguson scored 11 and Dylan Cox added 10.
For the visiting Keydets, all-tournament team member QJ Peterson scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out four assists. Julian Eleby had a strong showing as well, putting in 18 points and Phillip Anglade chipped in 13.
The hosts found themselves behind by six (83-77), after leading by as many as 14 points, with a little more than four minutes to play and closed out the game on a 15-3 run. Maxwell Lenox's finish with his right hand in close kick started the critical run, before consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays at the rim by Wilson and Plomb gave Army an 85-83 edge with less than three minutes left. Two of Army's eight blocks came on VMI's next possession and Ferguson went to the line where Army struggled the entire night (15-29).
After he made one of two to push the lead to three (1:45), Jordan Weethee converted a three-point play of his own to tie the game at 86-86 with 90 seconds on the clock. Army perfectly executed its next two possessions, surrounding a pair of missed VMI free throws, with Plomb draining a pullup and Cox going high off the glass to put Army ahead by four with less than 30 seconds remaining.
VMI failed to score again and Wilson added two at the line to run the final score to 92-86.
Wilson opened the contest with the first bucket on a turnaround in the post that placed him in the elite company of Army's 1,000 point club. The Black Knights quickly made it 9-2 after Wilson's basket on a layup by Omlid. VMI settled into the game and put together an 18-5 run that propelled it to a 20-14 advantage.
The fast paced first half featured seven lead changes and four ties and Army struggled from the free throw line as a team, going 5-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Army once again became the frontrunner when Lenox delivered a bounce pass to Plomb in transition and he viciously threw down a one-handed slam that put Army ahead 34-33. Moments later, a save by Omlid to Travis Rollo led to a wide-open look for Mo Williams at the top of the key for one of Army's five three-pointers. The Black Knights went 5-of-19 from distance.
Ahead 39-35 at that point, Army surrendered the lead after six straight points for the visitors, including a corner trey by Tim Marshall (nine points). The edge went back to Army on a similar possession that was finished by Wilson for three of his 14 first-half points, but it was VMI that took a 53-52 lead into the break. The 53 points for VMI marked the most in a first half in the four-year history of the All-Military Classic presented by USAA.
Army scored 17 of the first 21 points to begin the second half and built a 13-point cushion five minutes into the second stanza following Peterson's three that had VMI up 56-54. The 14-1 stretch was supported by 12 points in the paint with a pair of Omlid dunks.
Facing a 71-57 deficit, VMI began to mount its comeback. The Keydets strung together a 20-4 run that propelled them in front 77-75 and they then scored six in a row after Ferguson's dunk tied it at 77 apiece prior to Army's game-closing run.
Army puts its unblemished record on the line when it plays its first road game of the season on Nov. 19 at St. Francis Brooklyn. Opening tip is set for 7 p.m.
Game Notes:
Wilson entered the game with 998 career points and became the 29th player in Academy history to score 1,000 points. Wilson now has 1,017 career points.
Army posted its second straight win over VMI and improved to 8-4 all-time against the Keydets.
Army's 2-0 start is its first to include victories against two Division I opponents since 1970-71 when Bob Knight directed Army to wins over Lehigh and VMI.
The Black Knights won the rebounding battle 45-39 and shot 55.4 percent from the floor (36-of-65) compared to VMI's 44 percent effort (33-of-75).
Max Yon (Air Force) and Ahston Moore (Citadel) joined Wilson, Plomb and Peterson on the all-tournament team.
