1. With the 76-70 loss, Liberty is 2-2 in the conference, and in a four way tie for 3rd place in the North.
2. Liberty went from up one to down eleven in just 2 minutes and 43 seconds to begin the second half, and High Point never looked back. This run consisted of three Liberty turnovers. They would have 18 turnovers on the night.
3. Drew Smith led the Flames with 17 points and 8 rebounds. He not only played well, but he stepped up down the stretch. Smith wanted the ball and was doing what he could to bring the Flames back at the end.
4. Coach Layer only played seven guys regularly. With the rest of the big men playing well, Vander Pol only saw four minutes. Wesley Alcegaire came in during a non-garbage time situation, committed an offensive foul, and checked back out of the game all within about 30 seconds.
5. The Panthers were lead by Adam Weary who had 22 points. John Brown contributed 21 points as well, and Devante Wallace tallied 16. Brown and Weary, both sophomores, were very impressive in the win for High Point.
Gielo had another nice game. 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists.
6. Positives: There were many positives for Liberty. The Flames shot extremely well, 61% overall and 64% from three. Everyone was contributing on offense and making their shots. Liberty rebounded well and won the battle of the boards 29-23. Also, graduate assistant, Soloman Tat will have a career in modeling if coaching doesn’t pan out. His suit was on a whole new level.
7. Negatives: Unfortunately there were also many negatives. After a fairly clean game against Campbell, the Flames turned the ball over 18 times (Sanders had 5 of them). Liberty went 13-20 from the free throw line, and really struggled to hit them when it mattered near the end. The Flames were shooting 3s better than they were shooting free throws. Liberty was also only able to record three steals on the night.
8. They way the Flames shot the ball, one would expect them to easily beat a team like High Point. Two technical fouls (Coach Layer, and Coronado for hanging on the rim), turnovers, and free throws would prove costly for Flames.
9. The Flames will need to bounce back against Longwood on Wednesday. Though the Lancers are struggling, Liberty has never won at Longwood.
