Phillips powers Longwood past VMI 65-45

FARMVILLE, Va. -- Lorenzo Phillips scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his first career double-double to help Longwood beat VMI 65-45 on Saturday.

Phillips scored nine straight points and added a 3-pointer toward the end of a 17-0 Lancers run that made it 45-25 early in the second half. The Keydets answered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 13 and later got as close as 47-35 before Longwood pulled away for good.

JaShaun Smith added 18 points and Damarion Geter grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lancers (6-3), who had a 50-39 advantage on the glass.

Myles Lewis led VMI (5-4) with 11 points.

The Keydets struggled shooting from the field (27 percent), the 3-point line (18 percent) and the foul line (42 percent). VMI led for more than nine minutes in the early part of the first half with its largest lead at 13-8.