LEXINGTON, Va. -- D.J. Covington scored a career-high 33 points and VMI led wire-to-wire but survived a furious second-half rally to defeat Campbell 84-81 on Wednesday night for its seventh win in nine games.

The Keydets (16-10, 9-4 Big South) had built a 24-point lead on Campbell in the first half before the Fighting Camels (12-15, 6-7) rallied as close as 82-81 on a Reco McCarter 3-pointer with 16 seconds to go.

Covington caught a three-quarter-court pass from Brian Brown for a dunk with 15 seconds left and grabbed a rebound of McCarter's try on a game-tying pull-up 3 that went halfway in before rimming out at the buzzer.

Covington also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots. QJ Peterson added 19 points, Jordan Weethee 10 and Phillip Anglade scored nine with 10 boards.

Andrew Ryan scored 21 and McCarter 19 for Campbell, which shot 67.7 percent in the second-half comeback.