LEXINGTON -- Just think if the guy wouldn't have missed three of his four free-throw attempts.

Oh, well, Reggie Williams could be forgiven.

Entertaining an "Education Day" matinee crowd consisting of mostly Rockbridge County school kids, Williams staged an A-grade show Tuesday afternoon at Cameron Hall, hitting 19 of 22 field-goal attempts en route to a 43-point performance that made him the Big South Conference's all-time leading scorer.

And, oh, the game. VMI lambasted nearby neighbor Southern Virginia, 123-85.

"Pretty good day, I think," a grinning Williams said. "It really doesn't get better than that from the field. And getting the conference record for points, it's a nice record. It may stay for a while, or it may go. That's cool. I'm grateful."

Williams, a 6-foot-6 senior forward from Prince George, Va., missed only three shots from the floor and was 4-for-6 from 3-point range in matching his season high of 43 vs. Apprentice on Dec. 10. If he hadn't gone 1-for-4 from the line, Williams would have broken his school single-game record of 45 points, set Nov. 10, 2006 vs. Virginia Intermont.

"Reggie was 1-for-4 [on free throws] and we joked on him at halftime," VMI forward Willie Bell said. "We told him he needed to make his free throws, that it's not good being a world player if you can't hit your free throws."

No big deal. Duggar Baucom isn't about to trade his star player for anybody.

"Just the way Reggie did it," Baucom said. "He's 19-of-22, and he has a dunk at the end and he passes the ball to a teammate for a layup. He's so unselfish. I'm going to miss him and everybody around here is going to miss him. And before he's done, I think he's got some more records to write."

Williams said the numbers he's most interested is VMI's win-loss record. The Keydets won for the fifth time in six games to boost their record to 8-6. The last time a VMI team opened a season 8-6 was a decade ago.

"We're heading into conference play with a winning record and it feels good," Williams said. "I like it because ever since we've been here we've never had a winning record. It's a great feeling being over .500. I'm loving it right now."

Coming off last season's amazing run to the Big South tournament final, VMI was picked third in the Big South's preseason poll behind High Point and Winthrop. The Keydets open league play Saturday at Charleston Southern.

"There are a lot of expectations and I believe we can live up to those expectations," said Williams, after producing his sixth game of 40 or more points in a VMI uniform.

The NAIA Division II visitors simply didn't have the horses to run with the Keydets. Sophomore guard Bryce Pendleton's 13 points paced five Knights scoring in double figures.

"We're just not as big and athletic as they are," Knights coach Charles Jolley said. "We don't have an answer for Reggie, that's obvious. They called me earlier in the week saying he needed 21 points to set the record, and I said, 'well, you can count on that.' He had it at the half."

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA (0-0)

Johnson 5-15 0-2 12, Borland 3-8 0-0 6, C.Pendleton 1-5 9-10 11, Schroeder 1-5 1-2 3, Rivera 2-8 1-1 6, Brett 0-2 0-0 0, Holt 2-4 2-2 6, Warring 0-0 0-0 0, Brady 2-3 0-2 4, B.Pendleton 5-13 0-0 13, Antigua-Perez 1-2 1-2 3, Opeifa 5-5 1-1 11, Evans 4-10 0-0 10. Totals 31-80 15-22 85.

VMI (8-6)

Bell 5-8 7-8 17, Brownfield 3-6 0-0 8, Williams 19-22 1-4 43, Lonon 3-6 1-1 7, C.Holmes 2-7 0-1 6, Cantafio 0-4 0-0 0, Kenon 3-10 0-0 8, Hunter 2-8 2-2 8, T.Holmes 8-16 5-5 22, Josey 0-0 0-0 0, Houston 1-2 1-2 4. Totals 46-89 17-23 123.

Halftime--Virginia Military 61-46. 3-point goals--S. Virginia 8-38 (B.Pendleton 3-9, Evans 2-7, Johnson 2-7, Rivera 1-5, Borland 0-1, Holt 0-1, Brady 0-1, Brett 0-1, Schroeder 0-3, C.Pendleton 0-3), VMI 14-42 (Williams 4-6, C.Holmes 2-5, Brownfield 2-5, Hunter 2-7, Kenon 2-9, Houston 1-1, T.Holmes 1-6, Bell 0-1, Cantafio 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--S. Virginia 39 (Johnson 7), VMI 59 (Bell 13). Assists--S. Virginia 17 (Holt 5), VMI 29 (Lonon 7). Total Fouls--S. Virginia 20, VMI 18. A--897.