1. The 66-69 loss moves the Flames to fourth in the BSC North, still only two games back of the first place Camels.
2. The game was back and forth, but Liberty seemed in control for most of the contest. Longwood would only go up a point or two for one possession then the Flames would reclaim the lead.
Antwan Burrus had 13 points after going five straight games in single digits.
3. Everytime it looked like the Flames might pull away a bit, Lucas Woodhouse seemed to hit a big shot for the Lancers. He finished with 27 and hit the game winner.
4. Yesterday in my prediction I said I didn’t like the Flames chances in a tight game, but felt they could extend their lead and come out with a win. With 5:25 to go, the Flames went up five and it looked like they may do just that, instead they buckled under pressure and failed to hit a field goal from that point on.
5. What’s with Willett? (say that 13 times fast). Giving Longwood a 50% chance to beat us at home on average each year, if you picked the winner of games randomly 13 times, only .01% of the time would Longwood be picked 13 times in a row. Even giving them a 75% chance to win each matchup, they would only have a 2.3% chance to win 13 straight. There’s definitely something more to Willett than a lucky streak.
6. With that said, Lancer fans weren’t too rowdy throughout the game. It took some wild flails of the arms from coach Jayson Gee to get the Lancers to kick up the volume during the final stretch. It proved effective. Longwood went on a 9-3 run over the final four minutes to win the game. Liberty only hit free throws during the final stretch.
7. Positives: Tomasz Gielo has been playing really well lately. He had a double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Flames. JR Coronado (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Antwan Burrus (13 points, 6 rebounds) also had nice performances in the loss. Liberty crushed Longwood on the boards all night, which we expected with the two teams’ rebounding history.
8. Negatives: The Flames continue to struggle with turnovers, losing 15 to Longwood’s 9. John Caleb had 7 himself (that’s 13 over the last two games). The worst part was that many were unforced turnovers for the Flames. Liberty also shot 13-19 from the line, while not terrible, compare that to Longwood’s 10-11.
9. It wasn’t all bad for the Flames but getting held up during the final stretch with no made shots against one of the worst defenses in the nation was frustrating. It boiled down to the same mistakes for Liberty, and after some of the looks coach Layer had for his players, some lineup changes would not be surprising.
10. Look for the Flames to bounce back against 4-16 Presbyterian Saturday in the Vines..
How could lineup changes hurt ?!!!!!