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Liberty University
19-10, 13-3BSC
Iona
18-10, 11-5MAAC
Liberty Falls to Iona in Sears BracketBusters
2/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Hosting a Sears BracketBusters match-up live on ESPNU for the first time in program history, Saturday, the Flames found themselves unable to bounce back from a strong first half by Iona, as the Gaels took the contest, 77-57.
Liberty falls to 19-10 on the season, while Iona improves to 18-10 overall. The Flames are now 0-3 when participating in the BracketBusters series.
The defeat marks the first time Liberty has suffered back-to-back losses since falling to Texas Tech (79-71, Nov. 21) and USF (60-43, Nov. 23) earlier in the season.
The Gaels came out firing in the opening minutes, outscoring the Flames, 7-1. Joel Vander Pol gave Liberty its first field goal at 16:53, finding room underneath for a layup. Following a three-pointer by Iona's Jermel Jenkins, Vander Pol found the net again, this time throwing down a thunderous two-handed jam.
Mike Glover gave Iona a seven-point lead with a layup at the other end, but David Minaya countered the basket with a long jumper to make it 12-7 Iona, at 15:27.
Kyle Smyth tacked on a trey for the Gaels two minutes later to give the visitors an eight-point bulge. Minaya once again answered on the opposite end with a long two-point jumper at 12:47. Both squads went scoreless for nearly three minutes, until Iona's Sean Armand lit up the board with a three-pointer. The Gaels reeled off eight more points to complete an 11-0 run and hold a 26-9 advantage at 7:43.
Jeremy Anderson ended Liberty's 5:32 scoring drought 28 seconds later, knocking down a three-pointer. Jesse Sanders followed up the downtown shot with a fast break layup to cut the deficit to 12. The Gaels responded with five straight points to up their lead to 17. Evan Gordon answered for the Flames with a jumper to make it a 15-point margin, 31-16, at 4:04.
Iona held Liberty scoreless from the field in the remaining minutes of the period. The Flames received two made free throws during the stretch, as the Gaels outpointed the Flames, 13-2, to carry a 44-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Alejo Rodriguez led the Gaels with 10 first half points. Averaging 10.2 boards a game coming into the contest, Glover finished the first half with eight caroms to his credit. Sanders led the Flames with five points.
Iona outscored Liberty in the paint in the opening period, 18-6. The Gales shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) from the field, while holding Liberty to 31.8 percent shooting (7-of-22).
In the second half, the Flames got off to an 8-2 start in the opening minutes to make it 46-24 at 16:23. Iona responded by reeling off six straight points of its own to up the lead to 28. A free throw by John Caleb Sanders ended the Gaels burst.
Antwan Burrus followed up with a tip-in to cut the margin to 25. Smyth then knocked down a three-pointer for the Gaels to put the visitors up 28. After a John Brown layup, Smyth tacked on another trey to give Iona a 58-29 lead at 12:51.
Following a Jesse Sanders jumper and a Scott Machado layup, the Flames reeled off 11 straight points.
Gordon highlighted the spurt, connecting on a fastbreak layup at the 9:24 mark and nailing a crowd igniting trey 59 ticks later to slice the deficit to 18, 60-42.
The Gaels held the Flames at bay in the remaining minutes, preventing Liberty from climbing any closer than 18 points en route to the 77-57 decision.
Smyth led all scorers with 17 points. Rodriguez and Glover posted double-doubles, finishing with 14 and 12 points respectively, while chipping in 11 boards, apiece.
Jesse Sanders paced the Flames with 13 points, followed by Gordon (12) and Minaya (10). Brown, who was held scoreless until 11:54 in the second half, was strong on the boards for the Flames, recording 12 rebounds to accompany his late nine-point scoring effort.
Iona concluded the contest with 54.4 percent shooting from the field (31-of-57), including an 11-of-22 (50.0 percent) showing from behind the three-point arc. The Gaels' field goal percentage is the second best against the Flames this season. Only George Mason has shot better (60.0 percent) in a 84-54 win over the Flames on Dec. 11.
The Flames shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from three-point land. Heading into the contest with a league leading three-point field goal percentage defense of 30.3, the Flames gave up 11 three-pointers on the afternoon after allowing 14 on Tuesday in the 79-69 loss to VMI, marking the first time this season the Flames game up more than 10 three-pointers in back-to-back contests.
The Gaels step back into MAAC play on Friday at Saint Peter's. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
Liberty looks to avoid three straight defeats for the first time this season, as the team hits the road on Thursday for its final regular season conference road trip. The Flames first stop in Rock Hill, S.C., to take on Winthrop. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
