The Flames conclude their regular season with a disappointing home loss to Radford, 87-83.
- Liberty was unable to sustain any momentum they had gained with consecutive wins over Campbell and Longwood.
- Many of the same, recurring problems reared their ugly head again in this one. The Flames led by 9 with just 5:31 to play in the game. It wouldn’t matter as Radford closed the game on a 21-8 run. This included a 13-0 run from the 5:31 mark to the 1:35 mark when a Joe Retic 3 point play would stop the bleeding. By that point it was too late though.
- The Flames shot 51% from the field for the game, but in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the game, went just 2-for-8 from the field with 4 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Highlanders were 5-for-8 including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range and just 1 turnover during this time.
- Antwan Burrus concluded his VInes Center career with 19 points and and 8 rebounds to lead the way for the Flames.
- Tomasz Gielo had another solid outing, finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
- John Caleb Sanders and Davon Marshall added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
- Drew Smith finished with a solid line of 9 points and 7 rebounds.
- Joe Retic, who had been playing very well of late, had 8 points, 4 assists, and 6 turnovers, a season-high in turnovers. Retic had just 5 turnovers in his previous 4 games.
- Liberty had 16 turnovers and the Highlanders killed them in points off turnovers, 19-4.
- The loss is Liberty’s 20th on the season, their 2nd consecutive 20-loss season, that’s only happened 1 other time in program history (1976-78). The Flames finish the regular season with the same overall record as a year ago (11-20), but 5-11 in conference play compared to a 6-10 mark last season. Liberty will finish the season with its 3rd straight losing mark, and consecutive losing records in conference play for the first time since 2000-02.
- Next, the Flames head to Conway, South Carolina for the 2014 Big South Tournament. Liberty, the 5 seed from the North Division, will face the 4 seed from the South, Winthrop. The game is scheduled to start at noon on Wednesday, the first game of the tournament. The winner faces #1 seed from the North, High Point. at noon on Friday.
- The Flames lost to Winthrop in the teams’ only meeting this season, 73-62. The game was played February 4th in Lynchburg. Here’s our overtime report from that matchup.
Familiar pattern. At least we are getting comfortable with it!