LU Holds Down Fort in Triumph over Winthrop

Seth Curry tallied a game-high 16 points in a defensive struggle on Saturday night, inside the Vines Center, as the Liberty Flames (17-8, 8-5 BSC) grabbed a 10-point victory, 57-47, over the visiting Winthrop Eagles (6-17, 5-8 BSC).

It was Liberty's first victory without breaking the 60-point barrier since the Flames topped High Point last season, 55-51, on Jan. 26, 2008, inside the Vines Center. The triumph also broke the Eagles' winning streak over the Flames, which stood at six games. Liberty's Larry Blair poured in 37 points in Liberty's last win over Winthrop, highlighting the Flames' seven-point victory, 78-71, on Feb. 20, 2006.

After Chris Malcolm tallied Winthrop's first two markers at the 19:09 mark, Liberty scored eight straight points, taking an early 8-2 lead. Anthony Smith's trey was followed by a bucket by Brolin Floyd, and the run was capped by Kyle Ohman's three-pointer at 17:13.

Winthrop pulled within three points, 10-7, after a Justin Burton three-point field goal at 12:41. The Flames quickly countered with an Austin Smith 11-foot field goal and a Seth Curry three-pointer, extending their lead to six points, 15-9, with 10:49 left in the opening stanza.

Back-to-back successful jumpers by Charles Corbin capped a 7-2 Winthrop spurt, cutting the Eagles' deficit to one point, 17-16, with 9:33 left in the first half. Liberty answered the Eagles' run, tallying a 9-1 spurt of its own, extending the lead to nine points, 26-17, with 4:36 left on the first-half clock.

The Eagles entered the intermission down two points, 28-26, after closing out the first half on a 9-1 run. Corbin closed the run, hitting back-to-back attempts from the charity stripe at the 1:06 mark.

Liberty was successful on 42.9 percent (12-of-28) of its attempts before the intermission, including 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from beyond the arc.

Winthrop shot 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from the floor during the first 20 minutes of play, including 60.0 percent (3-of-5) from three-point land.

A Floyd bucket at 18:29 gave the Flames a four-point lead, 32-28, but the Eagles quickly tied the game. Mantoris Robinson and Corbin tallied consecutive buckets, capping the quick jaunt at 17:26, knotting the game at 32-32.

Liberty retaliated by sprinting ahead to a 14-point lead, 51-37, its largest of the game. Curry sank two freebies from the charity stripe at 5:20, finishing the 19-5 run.

Winthrop started to make things interesting, scoring six straight points to trim its deficit down to eight points, 51-43, after a Mark-David Vil bucket went through the hoop at 4:13.

But Curry scored five of Liberty's final six points, including an NBA-range dagger with 1:16 left in the contest, to seal the Flames' victory, 57-47.

Liberty, the Big South Conference's most precise field-goal shooting team on the season, was held in check most of the night by Winthrop's stout defense. The Flames connected on 40.8 percent (20-of-49) from the floor, their lowest percentage in a win since shooting 41.3 percent in a double-overtime triumph against William & Mary on Nov. 29. The Flames connected on 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from beyond the arc.

Curry became the first freshman in Big South history to eclipse the 500-point mark in a season, finishing with a game-high 16 points, to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Ohman added 11 points, while Anthony Smith tallied eight points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Smith's work on the glass helped the Flames claim a slight, 37-36 rebounding edge for the contest. It was the fourth straight game Liberty has won the rebounding battle.

Winthrop struggled from the floor as well, managing to hit just 33.3 percent (18-of-54) of its attempts. The only team to shoot worse against Liberty this season was Anderson on Dec. 15, who connected on only 30.8 percent. Winthrop's final point total of 47 was the lowest point total by a Division I Liberty opponent this season and second only to Anderson (46) on the season. After a successful run of three-point shooting in the opening stanza, the Eagles missed all eight attempts from long distance in the second half, finishing with a 23.1 percent (3-of-13) success rate.

Corbin led the Winthrop offense with 12 points, while pulling down six rebounds. Malcolm added 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting. Robinson matched Corbin's rebound total, pulling down six caroms of his own.

Liberty returns to action on Monday, when the Presbyterian Blue Hose invade the Vines Center for a Big South Conference tilt. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Winthrop travels to High Point on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., inside the Millis Center.

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LU Holds Down Fort in Triumph over Winthrop

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Team Stats

Seth Curry

Kyle Ohman

Anthony Smith

Brolin Floyd