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Liberty University
17-8, 11-2BSC
Charleston Southern
13-12, 7-6BSC
Liberty Edges CSU in the Buc Dome, 70-69
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Liberty men's basketball team became the first this season to pick up a win inside Buccaneer Field House, Saturday night, escaping with a 70-69 win over Charleston Southern.
The Flames' victory marks the first defeat for the Buccaneers inside the Buc Dome during the 2010-11 campaign. Charleston Southern entered the contest with a 10-0 record in the facility.
Liberty moves to 17-8 on the season and 11-2 in conference play, while the Buccaneers fall to 13-12 overall and 7-6 in Big South action. With 11 league wins, Liberty surpasses its conference win total of 10 during the 2009-10 season.
The Buccaneers lit up the board first with two straight baskets from Johathan Brooks. John Brown cut the Flames deficit in half with a thunderous two-handed jam. After another Buccaneer bucket, Brown kept Liberty's decifit at one possession,?with a layup to make it 6-4 at 18:00.
Jeremy Sexton widened the gap between the Buccaneers and the Flames with a three-pointer. Evan Gordon helped the Flames chip away at the bulge, hitting a trey and a jumper, knotting the contest at nine with 16:19 left in the period.
Liberty?and Charleston Southern exchanged baskets?over the ensuing 2:50, tying the contest three more times during the span. Jamarco Warren took the lead back for the Buccaneers with a 25-foot jump shot. Following an alley-oop from Sexton to Kelvin Martin, Brooks capped off a 6-0 run, hitting one-of-two shots from the foul line to make it 21-15 at 11:42.
Liberty responded with four straight points to shrink the deficit. Gordon cut the Buccaneers lead to two points, 21-19, at 9:30 with a jumper that beat the shot clock buzzer.
Charleston Southern pulled away again, scoring five unanswered points to hold a seven-point advantage over the Flames. Joel Vander Pol put the Flames within five points of the lead, connecting on a fast break layup. Sexton answered on the other end with a trey to give the Buccaneers an eight-point edge, 29-21, with 4:52 left in the period.
The home team continued on a 13-4 run over the next 4:40. The Buccaneers took their largest lead of the half with 1:26 left on the clock, thanks to a made free throw by Warren,?putting the home team up by 14, 39-25.
The Flames closed out the half with a layup by Gordon and a Jesse Sanders free throw to cut the deficit to 11 by halftime, 39-28.
Gordon was the game's leading scorer at the end of the opening half with 11 tallies. Sexton and Brooks led the Buccaneers with nine points apiece.
Charleston Southern shot 45.5 percent from the field (15-of-33), while the Flames finished the period with 44.0 percent shooting (11-of-25).
In the second half, the Flames struck first, as Joel Vander Pol threw down an authoritative dunk to open the period. The Buccaneers responded at the other end with a three-pointer by Warren to go up by 12 pooints, 42-30, at 18:40.
Liberty?whittled away at the Buccaneer bulge over the next 3:26 to reduce the margin to six. Minaya put the Flames within two possessions with a layup at 15:14 to cut the deficit, 44-38.
Strickland made it a nine-point game with a three-pointer at the other end, but the Flames responded with four consecutive tallies off baskets from Minaya and Sanders to slice the Charleston Southern lead to five, 47-42, at 13:58.
After two foul shots by Kenny Mitchell, the Flames went on a 7-0 run to knot the contest at 12:29, 49-49.
The contest remained close down the stretch. The Flames took the lead for the first time in the game with 8:55 left on the clock, when Gordon posted a layup to put Liberty on top, 53-52.
Six more ties occurred in the remaining minutes with neither team able to garner more than a?three-point lead during the span. The Buccaneers held the lead for the last time at 2:59. Brooks connected on layup to put Charleston Southern ahead, 67-66.
Just over a minute later, Jesse Sanders regained the lead for the Flames with two made free throws. With Liberty still holding a one-point lead, Brown ended the contest much like he started.
Witn?nine seconds remaing in?the contest, Gordon heaved up a three-point attempt. However, the shot came off the rim and into the hands of Brown who flushed it with a dunk to put Liberty up by three. Warren hit two free throws at the other end, but it was not enough, as Liberty hung on for the 70-69 final.
Gordon led all scorers with 17 points. Four other Flames finished in double scoring figures - Brown (16), Minaya (15) Sanders (11) and Vander Pol (10). Brown picked up his 12th double-double of the season, adding 10 boards to his scoring effort. Sexton led the Buccaneers with 15 tallies, followed by Brooks (14), Warren (13) Strickland (12) and Martin (10). Brooks also finished with a double-double, chipping in 11 rebounds.
Liberty shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) in the second half to finish at 50.0 percent shooting (28-of-56) for the contest. Charleston Southern shot 41.9 percent (26-of-62) in the contest. The Flames bested the Buccaneers in the paint, 48-32.
The Buccaneers head to Rock Hill, S.C., to take on the Winthrop Eagles on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside the Winthrop Coliseum.
Liberty returns to the Vines Center on Thursday, playing host to Radford. Game is set for 7 p.m.
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