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The Virginia Military Institute men’s basketball team concluded its season with a 92-72 loss to Chattanooga in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament Friday night at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
Down 43-24 at the half, the 10th-seeded Keydets (7-25 overall, 2-16 SoCon) pulled within 13 points with seven minutes remaining in the game but could not get closer, as seventh-seeded Chattanooga pulled away.
Chattanooga (7-11 SoCon) would upset Samford 85-82 in the quarterfinals on Saturday to improve to 17-16 overall.
The highlight for the Keydets came early in the opening half when senior guard Sean Conway converted his first free throw of the game to earn his 1,000th career point at VMI. By hitting the benchmark, he became the 45th Keydet in program history to attain the milestone. He ended the game with seven points, finishing a stellar VMI career with 1,006 points over the past four seasons.
Tony Felder Jr. led the Keydets with 19 points, Asher Woods added 16 and Rickey Bradley Jr. contributed 14.. Tyler Houser and Taeshaud Jackson II each chipped in eight points for VMI.
Christian Courseault and former VMI player Jake Stephens paced Chattanooga with 21 points each. Courseault went 9-of-9 from the field.
The Keydets will miss Conway and their other two seniors, Louis Tang and Sean Conway. One of the highlights of a challenging season for VMI was a comeback from a 10-point deficit to defeat Wofford 87-83 on Senior Night on Feb. 22 at Cameron Hall in Lexington.
After strong rookie seasons, Woods and Houser were named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman teams as recognized by the SoCon coaches and SoCon Sports Media Association. Woods was the Keydets’ leading scorer this season, averaging 14.2 points per game, while Houser ranked third on the team in scoring.
