ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's basketball team as the No. 7 seed never allowed No. 10 VMI to take a lead with the Spartans soaring past the Keydets, 84-70, in the First Round of The Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament on Friday at the Harrah's Cherokee Center.
 
KJ Younger paced the contest with 29 points, marking his ninth career game scoring over 20 points. Justin Neely registered his 19^th double-double of the season and 26^th of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Donald Whitehead Jr. chipped in 13 points to round out the Spartans in double-figures.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
A basket apiece from Younger and Neely put the Spartans on top, 4-0 at 18:53. The Keydets responded with four-straight points to tie things up at 17:00, 4-4. A triple from Younger at 16:08, followed by a layup from Noah Norgaard at 15:19, kept the Keydets from taking a lead in the game. With 9:10 left in the half, Clinton Efinda chipped in a jumper to propel the Spartans to a 9-0 run for a 26-14 lead at 6:37. The Keydets responded with 10 unanswered points to cut their deficit to three at 4:43, 26-23. However, the Spartans strung together a 13-4 run to close out the half with a 39-27 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
Both teams went back-and-forth from behind the arc coming out of the break with a combined five triples in the first two minutes. However, at 18:04 the Spartans notched an 8-0 run for a 17-point cushion at 15:22, 53-36. The Spartans continued to add to their advantage, taking their biggest lead of the contest at 7:21, thanks to a layup from Neely, 67-49. The contest was concluded with an alley-oop from Valentino Pinedo to Younger before VMI's Linus Holmstrom got the final basket of the game, but the Spartans walked away comfortably with the 84-70 victory.
 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Younger knocked down three triples and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
• Younger added seven boards, while Pinedo recorded six.
• Lilian Marville and Whitehead Jr. led the game with five assists apiece.
• Marville paced the Spartans with three steals.
• Pinedo, Neely and Domas Kauzonas each recorded a block.
• UNCG bested VMI in points off turnovers (14-13), rebounds (40-29), second chance points (19-11), bench points (27-12), points in the paint (46-26), fast break points (10-8), blocks (3-2), steals (6-5) and assists (19-13).

RECORDS 
UNCG: 14-18, 9-9 SoCon 
VMI: 6-26, 1-17 SoCon
   
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UP NEXT 
The Spartans will face No. 2 Wofford in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.