[SeoulFlame]

We win 75-66.

[ATrain]

A-Train help me out here.... Aren't you supposedly some kinda writter for the school newspaper... well make up your mind if you are going to be a Flames fan or a writter... you can't just call teams out and say that they suck... you need to learn the rules of journalism...I hope you talk to the Longwood Coach afterwards and tell him how bad they suck and then ask Coach D how embaressed he is if they loose tonight......Feel free to come back on this thread and post there answers I would love to hear there responses...

Yes...I write for women's bball...men's I let my good friend and hallmate cover

As far as my "question" concerning their loss to Savannah State, that was more outta embarassment that a team from my hometown would lose to the Tigers, and frustration that tonight there was a real possibility my school might lose to the team that lost to SSU (which thankfully did NOT happen). Blair was right...they underestimated Longwood last time.

[Guest]

did yall just hear that?

LB has played in 85 games and how many of those would you say he has scored 20 or more points........










68????? How is he not the best player we've seen

[bigsmooth]

good win fo the guys. let's hope we can put a little roll together and finish strong.

[TDDance234]

Hubbard gets the worst bounces from point-blank. He gets 3-4 easy layups per game but somehow he manages to rim them out everytime.

[Guest]

impressive about Larry Blair...just impressive i would have only guess maybe a little over half.

Coach did swtich it up tonight he went wtih

Risher
Blair
Smith
Porter
Hubbard

granted Longwood is not that good, but i think we at least saw the Smartest and Hardest working line up yet this season.

Hubbard had a tough night, get past it and get to the next one, if we make half our free throws we win by at least 10.

[Hold My Own]

yeah 68 out of 85 games?????

Thats sick....I'm sayin it right now, next year at this time we'll be saying the hands down best player ever at LU

[TDDance234]

Does Larry have his jersey retired? Or does LU do that?

[BJWilliams]

Does Larry have his jersey retired? Or does LU do that?

That I know of I do not believe any of the men's numbers have ever been retired...

[Hold My Own]

well I thought they did....what did Peter get honored with a while back? and Hildo right??? maybe i'm nuts......I would think they will retire his, heck he's only a Jr. so we still got time and he's still got time to show us even more

[TallyW]

Retiring his number?

He's a good player but retire his number?

[Sly Fox]

Peter, Julius & Hildo all have had their numbers retired. But I agree its a little premature to be calling for that quite yet.

At this point, every victory is terrific.

[BJWilliams]

Retiring his number?

He's a good player but retire his number?

I think he could go in the Liberty Hall of Fame but he's gopnna have to break a couple records to get it retired the way I see it

[TDDance234]

Barring injury, Blair arguably goes down as the greatest player from the past 10 years at Liberty. I don't think anyone has contributed as much as he has since walking on the floor.

I think he's certaintly deserving.

[Hold My Own]

no doubt...as a JR if he walked away right now he goes down in the Top 5...I would think the least we could do is retire his jersey after he sets a few records next year

[Guest]

Did Justin Holland quit or something? He was not on the bench tonight.
I've been hoping Dunton would give him his chance all year long. He never did. I could see he was frusterated.

[PAmedic]

in between runs at work here and saw the score on the ticker- great news! no indigestion tonite! very happy for Coach D and the guys- lets finish out the season on a high note.

[PAmedic]

Solid Shooting Effort Lifts Liberty To Victory Over Longwood

February 13, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.

After a dismal performance that saw Liberty shot just 29.4 percent from the field and score 45 points in a home game, Liberty put together its third-best shooting performance of the year as the Flames shot 52.9 percent from the field en route to a 75-66 victory over Longwood, Monday evening, at the Vines Center.

The game remained close over the first several minutes of the first half until Evan Risher (So., G, Fort Worth, Texas) took a feed from Damien Hubbard (Jr., G/F, Boyce, Va.) for a fast-break lay-up to put Liberty (6-18) up by five, 12-7, at the 14:05 mark.

However, Longwood (7-18) scored 11 out of the next 14 points to take a one-point lead, 16-15, as Maurice Sumter pulled down a rebound and took the ball the length of the court for a jumper with 10:40 left to play.

The Flames answered back on the next possession as Eric Bigby (Jr., F, Meade, Md.) allowed Liberty to regain the lead with a two-point basket on the ensuing possession, but that would be the last time that Liberty would lead over the rest of the period as the Lancers put together a 13-4 run to take an eight-point lead, 29-21, on a lay-up by Kirk Williams with 5:57 left to play in the opening half.

Three minutes later, Longwood took its largest lead of the game as a jumper by Sumter pushed the Lancers’ advantage to 10 points, 33-23, with 2:25 left before the intermission. Liberty scored five-straight points to trim the lead back to five points as Rell Porter (So., F, Pittsburg, Texas) converted on 1-of-2 free throw attempts with 1:19 left to play before the two teams settled on a six-point Longwood lead at the break, 36-30.

Liberty came out of the locker room fired up and connected on back-to-back three-pointers by Porter and Larry Blair (Jr., G, Charlotte, N.C.) to knot the game at 36-36 just 49 seconds in to the final period. The two teams exchanged leads back and forth six times over the next six minutes until Blair knocked down a jumper and followed Risher with a trey from the corner to give Liberty a five-point lead, 53-48, with 10:38 left to play.

The Flames pushed their lead to as mush as six points, 59-53, on a Blair jumper at the 7:23 mark, but the Lancers won’t go away as Longwood got within two points on two separate occasions, including after a lay-up by Sumter with 3:35 left to play, 66-64.

But Liberty’s defense clamped down and held the Lancers without a field goal over the rest of the period (0-of-4) and just two free throws to seal its sixth victory over the year.

Liberty finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field with back-to-back 50 percent halves (50.0 percent in the first half, 13-of-26, and 56.0 percent in the second half, 14-of-25), including a 46.2 percent mark from behind the three-point arc (6-of-13).

Blair led the Flames as he netted 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line, while Risher added 18 points and seven assists as he was 5-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Anthony Smith (Fr., G, Plano, Texas) chipped in with 16 points as he shot a season-best 7-of-11 from the field, while Porter rounded out the team’s double-figure scorers with 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Lancers also placed four players in double figures with Sumter leading the way with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, while Dana Smith and Clayton Morgan netted 14 points apiece with Morgan leading the team with nine rebounds. Williams came off the bench to add 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from the line.

The Flames begin their Big South Conference stretch run on Wednesday when they travel to Birmingham, Ala. to face Birmingham-Southern at Bill Battle Coliseum. Tip-off in the first of five remaining conference games is set for 8 p.m. (EST).

[PAmedic]

sounds like a great effort by nearly everyone tonite- Blair was his usual self and Rish evidently really stepped up, poss securing his schollie for next year?



Evan Risher had 18 points
and a team-best seven assists
in Liberty's 75-66 win over
Longwood on Monday.

[PAmedic]

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 2239&path=

LU men, women pull off hardcourt wins

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 14, 2006

Forgive Larry Blair's exuberance. Wins haven't come all that often this season for his Flames, and as the time ticked out Monday night during Liberty's 75-66 victory over Longwood at Vines Center, he raced to the basket for one last layup.

The ball left his hand with one-tenth of a second remaining and rattled home, and as he landed from the sprint, he pumped his fist and smiled.

After losing 10 of 11 games, any victory was to be reveled in.

"I love anything that will get us a win," Blair said. "If I have zero points and team scores, I don't care. I just want to win."

That wasn't an issue, of course, as Blair scored 22 points to lead the Flames. What was different Monday night was that other Flames got in on the act. Evan Risher scored 18 points and hit clutch free throws and 3-pointers. Anthony Smith barreled to the basket often and scored 16 points. Rell Porter converted offensive rebounds into baskets and scored 13 hard-earned points.

For once, it wasn't Blair scoring and everyone else soaking in his aura.

That was by design. From the start, Liberty coach Randy Dunton made sure to run plays to get everyone involved. He sent Damien Hubbard into the paint to get post touches and got Smith's engine revving right away.

That's a key for a freshman who at times has looked soft and unsure of his skills with the basketball.

"A couple of times, he'd go and be so aggressive and get an 'and-one' or something. Then the next possession, he'd go kind of soft and wouldn't want to go up," Risher said. "I'm like, Anthony, you weigh 220, you're 6-4, use your body. He's starting to learn that."

Dunton also made a change in the starting lineup, sitting the Russell Monroe/Doug Stewart platoon and starting Risher. That made the Flames quicker, and as Dunton pointed out, smarter.

"The thing I appreciated about that lineup tonight is that, hey, we've got five guys out there that are really trying to operate with a basketball IQ and really play sound basketball on both ends," Dunton said.

Still, Liberty trailed 36-30 at halftime as Longwood (7-18) looked poised for a season-sweep of the Flames. The Lancers won the first meeting in November convincingly and were seeking their first road victory of the year.

"This was the one we should have had," said Longwood wing Maurice Sumter, who led the Lancers with 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "We played well against them at home and beat them by 15, so we should have come into their place and got the W."

Liberty (6-18) opened the second half with six quick points, tying the game on 3-pointers from Porter and Blair. It was a dogfight until Liberty snapped a 48-all tie with a 7-1 burst. Longwood drew within two twice but never tied the game. Blair scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half.

"He's going to take shots and score points," Longwood coach Mike Gillian said of Blair. "Rell Porter's (3-pointer) was big too. He doesn't make many of them. Risher hit a couple of them too. They shot 5-for-8 on 3s in the second half. Those are big shots."

Two Lamar Barrett free throws brought Longwood within 69-66 with 55.5 seconds left, and the Lancers were left with the option of playing 35 seconds of solid defense and hoping for a stop or fouling a Flame and taking their chances at the free-throw line. Gillian chose the latter after Blair fed Risher the ball near half court.

Brandon Giles fouled Risher, a 52 percent free-throw shooter, and the Liberty guard drained both shots, giving the Flames a five-point lead. Had Blair, an 80 percent free-throw shooter, held onto the ball, Gillian said he would have opted to play defense instead.

"I don't know what it is about me and my free throws," Risher said. "Today, I was just more focused. I just didn't want to let my team down."

The Flames now head into a final five-game stretch probably needing two victories to feel safe about qualifying for the eight-team Big South tournament. They play at Birmingham-Southern Wednesday before heading to Radford Saturday.

Monday's victory could prove to be a boost for a team sorely in need of one, especially after a regrettable performance in a home loss to Charleston Southern Saturday.

"These guys bounced into the gym (Sunday night) ready to practice," Dunton said. "That's the way we've been all year long. They practice with energy. They just had to parlay it into a performance (Monday) and try to build themselves some confidence."

[LUconn]

So guys, are we allowed to make fun of Longwood now?

[Chris Lang]

Well, I'd say you at least have a bit more leverage now, LUConn.

[TDDance234]

They had some pretty rude fans. But that's what you get for chanting scoreboard early in the 1st half.

Risher was unbelievable tonight. He drove hard to the rim, found guys for easy shots, and played tough defense. If he could just give us 8 points and 5 assits or so every night, we'd be in good shape in the backcourt.

[jcmanson]

The guys played very inspired last night. I was wondering what everyone thought about the guys Coach played. Stewart didn't play, Russ and Eck saw limited action, and I did not even see Justin. Does anyone have any info on him? Coach said he played the guys that had a high bball iq, and that showed in practice that they wanted to rebound. I thought it was a good move. I liked the starting line-up. I think those 5 are our best 5 players so why not have them out there all at the same time? Russ is very undervalued. Rish and Smith could turn into being very solid backcourt players at this level. Coach was trying to have Hubbard play more of a Gabe or Leo style, which is what we need.

As far as Blair, I think if he keeps this pace up for the next year+ he should have his number retired. I have only been following Liberty hoops for 4 years, but I know that he has to be in the top 5 players ever here. Did anyone hear his interview last night? What a mature young man. He was asked about the defense played on him, and he said that is fine if the other team focus on him because his teammates will step up. As bad as this year has been, and for Larry to say something like that speaks volumes of his character.

Coach D came over to us 7 students that were at the game last night, and told us that we were his heroes, and that we need to keep on cheering and they would be fine.

[TDDance234]

JC where were you sitting? We should get together.[/url]