CLINTON, S.C. ? Chase Holmes poured in a career-high 24 points as the Presbyterian College men's basketball team held the nation's leading team to a mere 57 points en route to the 63-57 victory Monday night.

The Blue Hose improve to 11-15 on the season and 8-7 in Big South play. The Keydets fall to 20-6 on the year and 11-4 against conference competition.

VMI, which came into the game averaging an NCAA Division I best 95.9 points, was held to just 15 points in the first half on five-of-26 shooting as PC held a 27-15 halftime margin.

In the first 20 minutes of play, Holmes had 17 points on eight-of-12 shooting as the Blue Hose canned 40.7 percent of their shots in the opening stanza.

After a quick 2-0 lead to start the game, the Keydets went on a 13-6 run to take a 13-8 lead at the 12:21 mark on Michael Sparks' three-point shot. It was the last point that the visitors would score for a stretch of 9:46 as head coach Gregg Nibert's team went on a 13-0 run to take control of the contest. In the closing 12:21 of the half, Holmes would score 12 of his 17 first-period points.

In the opening period, PC outscored the Keydets 18-4 in the paint and had 12 fast break points while holding VMI without any quick opportunities.

The Keydets opened the second half on a 10-2 spurt, closing the gap to 29-25 with 16:19 to go.

With the score tied at 40-40 at the 8:39 mark, Josh Johnson drilled a three-point bomb to give the Blue Hose a 43-40 advantage with 7:09 to play. That keyed a 9-0 run that spanned 3:29, giving the home team a 49-40 lead. During that spurt, Pierre Miller canned both charity shots and Travis Sligh drained an eight-foot jumper to give PC a 47-40 lead. Then, with 5:05 to play, Holmes drained a fade away jumper to go up nine.

After VMI cut the lead to two, 49-47, Al'Lonzo Coleman connected on both charity tosses to put the home team up four with 2:15 to go. He then added two more free throws with 80 seconds remaining.

However, the Keydets would not give up, continuing to slice the deficit to three, with the last time coming at the 19 second mark.

With 12 seconds to play, Pierre Miller hit his first of two free throws, making it a two-possession ballgame. Coleman fouled trying to get the rebound, sending Travis Holmes to the line. However, Holmes missed both shots and Holmes grabbed the rebound. Two seconds later, he was fouled.

The rookie then calmly walked to the line and sank both shots for what turned out to be the winning margin.

In addition to his game-high 24 points, Holmes had six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Coleman was just shy of a second-consecutive double-double, tallying 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Miller connected for 13 points in the contest to go along with a game-high three steals.

Johnson, who had just seven points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out a game-high five assists.

The Blue Hose pulled down 39 rebounds while limiting VMI to just 30. PC also drained 44.2 percent of its shots compared to 33.9 percent for the visitors.  

The Blue Hose return to action Saturday when they meet up with Charleston Southern in a 7 p.m., contest.