Both teams needed a win coming into this leg of the Corpus Christi Challenge, but Liberty came out with the 70-53 win, snapping their five game losing streak. Antwan Burrus shouldered much of the burden, scoring 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the way for the Flames.
Burrus led the Flames with 17 point sand 13 rebounds
The Pirates and Flames traded shots for much of the first half, but then Liberty began pulling away. They opened up their largest lead of the period on a dunk by Burrus with 6:29 to go, and never looked back. The closest Hampton would get after that were a couple of moments when they pulled within five toward the end of the first half.
In the second half, the Flames shot lights out, draining six of their seven threes, opening up a comfortable lead that would get as high as 21 twice, both times on three-pointers by Casey Roberts- exclamation points punctuating the win with less than four minutes left in the game.
When it was all said and done, the Flames dominated both ends of the court. They shot over 49% from the field, connecting on 7 of 14 three-point attempts, and won the points in the paint battle 36 to 20, despite having eight of their shots blocked by the Pirates. Defensively, Liberty didn’t return the shot blocking effort, but they did hold Hampton to a 33.3 shooting percentage from the field, and an abysmal 16.7% from three.
Flames’ guard John-Caleb Sanders added a well-rounded stat-line of 15 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds, finding the net on all three of his three-point attempts. Hampton was led by Maxwell Du’Vaughn’s 17 points. He also added three blocks.
Hampton will finish up their part in the Corpus Christi Challenge tomorrow against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the 1 pm game, followed by Liberty taking on Sam Houston State at 3:30 pm.
