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Liberty University
7-3
DePaul
5-4
Liberty Comes Up on Short End at DePaul
12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Seth Curry hit two-of-three free throw attempts with 17 seconds left to give the Liberty Flames (7-3) a one point lead, but a dramatic finish, including two Dar Tucker free throws with 1.1 seconds left, gave the DePaul Blue Demons (5-3) a 64-63 victory, Wednesday night, inside Allstate Arena.
A Brolin Floyd trey at 16:07 gave Liberty its first lead of the game, 7-6. DePaul retook the lead, 11-9, via a Dar Tucker three-point bucket at 13:24. The Flames trailed by two points again, 14-12, after Tyler Baker hit a three-pointer at 12:12.
It was at that point that DePaul opened up the game via a 13-0 run, storming out to the 27-12 lead. Another trey by Tucker capped the run at 7:08. Floyd put Liberty on the scoreboard for the first time in nearly six minutes, slamming home a put back at 6:38. Floyd's bucket cut the DePaul lead to 13 points, 27-14.
DePaul used a 12-9 point advantage going into the intermission to take a 16 point lead into the break, 39-23. Seth Curry sunk two free throws with 4.7 seconds left, giving the nation's leading freshman scorer his first markers of the game, cutting the Blue Demons' lead to a 16 point halftime advantage.
Liberty shot 33.3 percent (9-of-27) from the floor, including 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from three-point range.
DePaul connected on 40.5 percent (15-of-37), including 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three-point land.
The Flames were able to cut its deficit to six points coming out of the break, 48-42, via 19-9 run, capped by a Kyle Ohman trey at 11:19. Ohman's bucket capped 10 straight Liberty points, which included two Antony Smith buckets and back-to-back three-pointers by Curry and Ohman.
Liberty continued to chip away at the DePaul lead, getting down to two points, 60-58. During that run, Curry hit three straight three-pointers, followed by a Floyd bucket in the paint at 4:26.
Ohman hit a three-point bucket at 2:12 to put Liberty up by one point, 61-60, bringing Liberty back from its previous 16 point deficit. Mac Koshwal's jump hook at 1:52 gave the Blue Demons the advantage again, 62-61.
Liberty retook the lead, 63-62, when Curry was fouled by Will Walker with 17 seconds left on a three-point attempt. Curry went to the line to shoot the three free throws from the charity stripe. Curry hit the first two, while the third attempt didn't fall.
DePaul called timeout, setting up a dramatic finish. A Jeremiah Kelly outlet pass was deflected by Ohman, sending the ball toward the three-point line. Curry dove for the loose ball and looked for a teammate. Tucker grabbed the ball out of Curry's hands, turned and made a move toward the basket, running right into Ohman, who was trying to receive a handoff from Curry. Ohman was called for a non-shooting foul.
The personal foul made eight team fouls for Liberty, sending Tucker to the line for the one-an-one. Tucker nailed both attempts, giving DePaul the one point lead, 64-63, with 1.1 seconds left. A full court heave missed the mark, giving DePaul a slim victory.
Liberty finished the contest hitting 41.1 percent (23-of-56), including 35.3 percent (12-of-34) from three-point land. Liberty just managed 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from the charity stripe.
Curry finished with a game-high 16 points, after being held to two points in the opening stanza. Smith scored 15 points, while Ohman and Floyd each chipped in 10 points. Jesse Sanders pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Tyler Baker made his first appearance of the season, scoring six points in 11 minutes of action.
DePaul hit 37.7 percent (23-of-61) of its shots, including 20.7 percent (6-of-29) from three-point land.
Tucker tied Curry for a game-high 16 points, including the game-winning free throws. Koshwal chipped in 14 points.
Liberty returns to action on Friday, when they travel to Saint Louis. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. The game will be Liberty's second contest of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic. The first two contests will be played at home sites, before Liberty travels to Las Vegas to play Northern Colorado on Monday.
