[Hold My Own]

the worst called game I've ever seen, but bottom line Big's has to get some boards, theres no reason for a rebound to touch the floor right in front of him...but geez those officials were as bad as it gets what did the game start out like 9 fouls to 0

[TIMSCAR20]

Thanks Tally for watching and listening! I say some crazy stuff sometimes but it is all in good fun . I try not to get caught up in the emotion of the game because it could affect how I call the game but I gotta tell you I felt depressed for these guys on the ride home. So close but yet so far. Asheville is a tough team and will be dangerous in the tournament but what a comeback by the Flames. I'll say this, our boys play hard and they don't quit. At the end of 4 years someone should ask the question who the best guard in LU history was and I may have to change my answer to #22! Absolutely sensational at both ends of the floor. What a complete player he has become. Larry is like the little brother I never had and I probably will shed a tear on senior night next season because I couldn't be more proud for him. MVP season but he won't get it probably because of the record.

[thesportscritic]

I didn't see the game but I saw on the stat sheet that we were down almost 20 points and attempted a comeback. At least they fought back somewhat.

[TDDance234]

Before tonight, Larry was 18th in all of Division 1 for points per game.

After his performance tonight, he'll probably shoot up.

[El Scorcho]

Before tonight, Larry was 18th in all of Division 1 for points per game.

After his performance tonight, he'll probably shoot up.

Actually, he was ranked 14th through January 30th. Here we go:

NCAA Men's Basketball
Division I
Points Per Game
Through Games 01/30/2006

Rank Name, Team: Average

01 Adam Morrison, Gonzaga: 29.0
02 J.J. Redick, Duke: 27.8
03 Andre Collins, Loyola (Md.): 27.3
04 Brion Rush, Grambling: 25.7
05 Keydren Clark, St. Peter's: 25.4
06 Steve Burtt, Iona: 24.4
07 Rodney Stuckey, Eastern Wash.: 23.6
08 Trey Johnson, Jackson St.: 23.5
09 Alan Daniels, Lamar: 23.2
10 Quincy Douby, Rutgers: 22.8
11 Tim Smith, East Tenn. St.: 22.8
12 Roy Booker, Southeast Mo. St.: 22.5
13 Whit Holcomb-Faye, Radford: 22.3
14 Larry Blair, Liberty: 22.0

[LUconn]

22 ppg. How fitting


LU down by 2. UNCA with the ball and 2 seconds left on the shot clock they guy won't even be able to get a shot off and they call a foul on Blair. I didn't have much beef with a lot of the calls last night but that right there was HUGE. Refs need to know when that type of thing is acceptable and when it's not. (In fact it's never acceptable because it wasn't a foul but even if there was some contact, it wouldn't have been much and it's the type of thing you say "play on".) We still managed to get it to OT afterwards but I can only imagine what would have happened if it was a shot clock violation.

[BJWilliams]

I didn't see the game but I saw on the stat sheet that we were down almost 20 points and attempted a comeback. At least they fought back somewhat.

i listened tp the game from when they went down 16 til the end (with a brief intermission while I went from my car to my room) Those bpys showed a lot of fight getting back in the game and forcing overtime. That foul on Blair was really a bad call, and LU missing that rebound that UNCA got back to go up 5 after the free throws was pretty key as well.

[jcmanson]

Last night was so dissapointing. I truly thought we would win. The whole game I thought we would win, even down 16. These guys were fighting with all they had. First of all, there is not enough that can be said about LB. At points in the game I felt just give him the ball and everyone get out the way. He was just having one of those nights, which have become the norm. Damien really was aggressive during the game. He had perhaps his best night as a Flame. Bigby looked very good. I have always liked what I saw of him. Fact is though, that he did not rebound on those missed free throws at the end. Coach really got on him on the one when Asheville rebounded and hit the 3. If we would have rebounded there we would have won last night. We had just started our run and cut it down to 6. He missed the free throw, they got the rebound, and kicked it out for a 3, and just like that and it was 9 again. Coach was giving it his all. From the opening tip he was fired up. I loved seeing that. As dissapointed as I feel this morning, I know that if we all keep our eyes on the goal we will be back atop the Big South in the near future. Hopefully next year. I still think that we have a chance to pull an upset or two in the tourney if we can get in. With Larry, Damien, Evan, Anthony, and then add in Brew, we will have a perimeter that is one of the best in the BSC. If one of these incoming bigs can give us a back to the basket presence we will compete for a title next year.

[Sly Fox]

Here is the recap from Chris:

LU misses chance to rebound vs. UNCA

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 7, 2006

Larry Blair had already given Liberty University's men's basketball team five extra minutes by draining a 3-pointer with 6-foot-7 defender Joey Harrell square in his face with nine seconds left in regulation.

It looked like he was going to get another chance with the Flames down three in overtime. Omar Collington was at the free-throw line with 11.7 seconds left with UNC Asheville holding a two-point edge. He made the first shot, and the second free throw hit the front of the rim and bounded into the lane. Another chance.

Only the Flames couldn't grab it.

Instead, Chad Mohn leaped high and outworked Liberty for the rebound before getting fouled. He sank two more free throws, sealing UNC Asheville's 83-81 victory Monday night at Vines Center.

"It's just not acceptable," Flames coach Randy Dunton said.

It was the third time that the Bulldogs (7-14, 4-5 Big South) rebounded the miss of a free throw, and they converted those into seven points. It's those hustle points that hurt the Flames (5-17, 2-8) and sent them right back to the Big South tournament bubble.

"Life is a do-it-yourself project and we Jack Kevorkian-ed ourselves tonight," Dunton said. "It was assisted suicide."

Only the top eight teams advance, and Liberty fell into a last-place tie with VMI. That moves Saturday's game against Charleston Southern into must-win territory. Having already lost three Big South home games, the Flames cannot afford to lose another Saturday. The final two conference home games are against league heavyweight Winthrop and the Coastal Carolina team that beat Winthrop twice.

"Yes, in the big picture, what coach Dunton wants to see is a team that comes to the floor Saturday night and fights for 40 minutes," Dunton said.

Blair led all scorers with 33 points and Damien Hubbard chipped in 21. UNCA countered by placing five players in double figures, led by Collington's 17 points.

Blair struggled to mask his disappointment with the effort issues that continue to plague his team, things that are "killing us," he said.

The Bulldogs converted 15 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points. Aside from the rebounded missed free throws, Asheville exploited Liberty's lack of a post presence by scoring uncontested backdoor layups on at least four occasions.

"It's effort plays for loose balls, what Coach would call the 50-50 ball," said Blair, who hit 4 of 10 3-pointers and sank all seven of his free throws. "Rebounding has been killing us the whole year. It's not just getting outrebounded, but the times we're getting outrebounded. It always seems to be one of the biggest plays. We just need to buckle down in crunch time and learn how to win."

Blair was unstoppable in the second half. He scored 26 of his points after halftime and rallied the Flames from a 16-point hole nearly by himself. UNCA took its biggest lead with 12:09 left after Garrett Moles scored a nifty up-and-under layup to put the Bulldogs up 57-41.

But UNCA coach Eddie Biedenbach could only watch in disbelief as Blair continued to drill heavily contested shots. The Bulldogs made him earn every one of his points.

"There were six or seven shots in the second half where we had him defended, but he just made them," Biedenbach said. "He's a very good player and when he gets rolling and in rhythm, he's very tough to guard."

UNCA completed a sweep of the Flames after losing the five previous games in the series coming into this season. Liberty didn't take much solace in Monday's comeback, considering that it ended in another frustrating defeat.

They'll have four days to prepare for Charleston Southern, but preparation wasn't the issue Monday. Hubbard said the players knew everything the Bulldogs were going to do, yet LU still struggled to defend UNCA.

So one variable has to change: effort on the plays that truly matter, the ones that prove to be the difference between victory and defeat. Plays like those three missed throws that turned into extra opportunities for UNCA.

"It's something that people take for granted, but it's something you've got to work on," Hubbard said. "We took it for granted and that's how we got beat."

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 8440&path=

[PAmedic]

Liberty’s Rally Not Enough As Bulldogs Down Flames In Overtime Thriller

February 6, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.

UNC Asheville let a 16-point second half lead slip away as the Flames held the Bulldogs to just two field goals over the final eight minutes of regulation, but UNC Asheville was able to use the free throw line in the extra period to pick up an 83-81 Big South win over Liberty, Monday evening, in the Vines Center.

With the victory, the Bulldogs up their conference record to 5-6 on the season (7-14 overall), while the loss drops Liberty to 2-8 in league play (5-17 overall).

Play remained tight most of the first half as the lead changed hands six times and the game was tied on seven different occasions. A pair of free throws by Anthony Smith (Fr., G, Plano, Texas) knotted the game for the seventh time at 23-23 with 5:57 left to play in the opening half.

However, UNC Asheville rattled off nine-straight points to take a 32-23 lead on a Chad Mohn jumper at the 2:46 mark. A lay-up by Reid Augst with 63 seconds left before the break gave the Bulldogs an 11-point lead, 36-25, but Eric Bigby (Jr., F, Meade, Md.) converted on two free throws 33 seconds later to trim the lead back to nine points, 36-25, at the break.

UNC Asheville continued to control the pace of play over the first eight minutes of the second half as a lay-up by Garrett Moles at the 12:08 mark completed a 6-0 run by the Bulldogs and gave the visitors a 16-point lead, 57-41.

But Liberty slowly started to chip away at the large deficit as Larry Blair (Jr., G, Charlotte, N.C.) trimmed the advantage back to single digits with a three-pointer with 7:11 left to play in regulation, while the junior nailed another three-pointer 45 seconds later to cut the lead to six points, 62-56.

Joey Harrell answered back with a trey of his own on the next possession at the 6:03 mark, but that would be the second to last basket that UNC Asheville would make down the stretch as the momentum completely shifted towards Liberty over the remainder of the period.

Jeremy Eck (Jr., F, Stafford, Va.) knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:08 left to play to cut the lead to three points, 67-64. After both teams missed a jumper, Harrell pulled down a defensive rebound and was fouled, sending the junior to the free throw line where he missed both attempts from the charity stripe, allowing Liberty one last opportunity where Blair made good as his fourth three-pointer of the evening tying the game with nine seconds and sending the contest into overtime.

A three-pointer by Damien Hubbard (Jr., G/F, Boyce, Va.) gave the Flames their first lead since the first half at the 4:16 mark of the overtime, but Omar Collington was able to drive the length of the floor to knot the game at 70-70 just seconds later.

Jumpers by Blair and Harrell tied the game at 72-72 with 2:29 left to play in the extra period, but the Bulldogs, who were a dismal 5-of-15 from the free throw line in the first two periods of play finally found their shooting touch from the line as UNC Asheville converted on 9-of-10 free throw attempts down the stretch to eventually seal the victory.

Liberty was able to get as close as two points on three separate occasions over the last two-plus minutes, including after a pair of Blair free throws with 13 seconds left, but UNC Asheville remained steady from the stripe to walk away with the victory.

All eight players that got into the game for the Bulldogs found the scoring column, while five finished in double figures. Collington led the way with 17 points as he was 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 from the free throw line and added six of the team’s 22 assists on the night.

Joseph Barber followed with 16 points and six rebounds, while Harrell came off the bench to record a double-double with 12 points and a team-best 11 rebounds.

Blair once against led the way for the Flames with his fourth 30-point game of the season as he scored 33 points, including 26 points in the second and overtime periods, while Hubbard followed with a season-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Rell Porter (So., F, Pittsburg, Texas) led the Flames with 10 rebounds, marking his third double-figure rebounding game of the season.

The Flames continued a four-game homestand on Saturday when they host Charleston Southern in the Vines Center for a 7 p.m. contest, while UNC Asheville continues a brief two-game road swing in the Commonwealth when they visit VMI on Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest at Cameron Hall.