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Blair's 37 helps LU men upset Winthrophttp://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... th=!sports
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 21, 2006
Larry Blair had a move that Winthrop hadn't seen yet.
Moments after scoring 37 points in leading Liberty to a stunning 78-71 victory over the first-place Eagles at the Vines Center Monday, Blair broke out of the Flames' mid-court prayer huddle and leaped on press row.
"Whoo hoo!" he screamed, pointing to the few faithful fans that actually showed up.
"That just came out," he said afterward, still wearing an ear-to-ear smile. "I definitely wanted to share it with the fans. They were with us the whole game and hung with us through the tough times.
"Everyone came in believing that we could win, despite the record we had."
Indeed, Blair and his teammates were about the only ones who gave Liberty a chance against Winthrop, a team ranked No. 74 in the RPI that has been projected by most outlets as a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Many of the 1,426 in attendance were in various states of confusion, as in, "is this actually happening?"
"I doubt there were many believers left," Flames coach Randy Dunton said. "That's reflective of where we were at in our season."
The few supporters left saw that there has been some merit to what Dunton has said throughout a miserable 20-loss season, that there was tangible growth in several players, little leaps of maturity that were obscured by the mounting losses.
That was no more evident than in the final minute, when Winthrop's Torrell Martin brought the Eagles from down eight to within two in the blink of an eye with two 3-pointers.
How would Liberty (7-20, 3-11 Big South) react? Would the Flames fold? Or would they show the composure necessary to hold off the league's best team down the stretch.
Take choice B.
After Martin's second 3, which brought Winthrop (18-7, 3-3) within 71-69, Liberty's Rell Porter took an inbounds pass and broke Winthrop's press. He found Blair streaking down the court. Instead of holding the ball and milking seconds off the clock, the Flames used their numbers advantage in the frontcourt to their benefit. Blair drove to the basket, scored and was fouled. The free throw put Liberty up 74-69.
"We weren't just trying to play not to lose," Blair said. "You can take yourself out of the game by being too cautious. We stuck with the gameplan."
The game still wasn't done. As 20-loss teams are wont to do, the Flames made a critical mistake. Evan Risher fouled Martin while he was shooting a 3 and sent him to the line for three free throws.
Martin, who scored a team-high 32 points, hit two of them to cut the lead to 74-71. Winthrop's Phillip Williams immediately fouled Porter, who hit both free throws to push the lead to 76-71 with 31 seconds left. Blair then blocked Chris Gaynor's 3-point attempt, and after a foul, Anthony Smith drilled two free throws to seal the game.
Free throws down the stretch proved huge for Liberty. Smith entered the game shooting 64 percent from the line. Porter was a 69-percent free-throw shooter. They combined to go 9-for-10 and Liberty hit 24 of 28 overall.
"That was just heart," said Smith, who scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. "We wanted it today. That was tremendous the way we shot free throws."
Thanks to VMI's loss at Coastal Carolina Monday night, Liberty needs only one win in its final two games (here against Coastal Carolina Thursday or Saturday at High Point) or for VMI to lose to Radford Thursday at home to clinch the eighth seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
And getting that spot would give the Flames a chance at pulling another upset.
"I said to them at halftime (when Liberty trailed 36-31), do you dream of going to the NCAA tournament? Would you like to do that even this year?" Dunton said. "Then you've got to beat a team like this twice to put yourself in a position. ? I told them we should go out here right now and rekindle the little kid in us that really wants to go to the NCAA tournament and play with that kind of passion.
"So, hey, Larry comes out and scores five points to start the half, and the party's on."
Liberty 78, Winthrop 71
WINTHROP (18-7, 11-3 Big South)
Shuler 1-5 7-9 9, Bradshaw 5-12 6-7 18, Williams 0-6 1-2 1, Gaynor 3-9 0-0 7, Martin 11-20 5- 8 32, Jenkins 0-1 0-0 0, Daniels 0-3 2-2 3, Adams 0-0 0-0 0, McCullough 1-1 0-0 0, Draughn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 21-28 71.
LIBERTY (7-20, 3-11)
Hubbard 1-4 0-0 2, Porter 2-3 3-4 7, Risher 3-5 3-4 11, Smith 5-16 6-6 17, Blair 13-23 10-11 37, Alston 0-0 0-0 0, Bigby 0-1 0-0 0, Eck 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Monroe 1-1 0-0 2, Stewart 0-1 2-3 2. Totals 25-54 24-28 78.
Halftime: Winthrop 36, Liberty 31. 3-point goals: Winthrop 8-21 (Martin 5-9, Bradshaw 2-4, Gaynor 1-4, Williams 0-2, Jenkins 0-1, Daniels 0-1), Liberty 4-14 (Risher 2-2, Smith 1-5, Blair 1-5, Stewart 0-1, Bigby 0-1). Rebounds: Winthrop 33 (Martin, Liberty 36 (Porter, Smith 7). Assists: Winthrop 13 (Shuler 6), Liberty 12 (Risher, Blair 4). Blocked shots: Winthrop 3 (Williams 2), Liberty 5 (Hubbard 2). Steals: Winthrop 6 (Shuler, Gaynor, Martin 2), Liberty 4 (Smith, Blair 2). Turnovers: Winthrop 8 (Williams, Adams 2), Liberty 10 (Blair, Hubbard 3). Total fouls: Winthrop 19, Liberty 21. Fouled out: Stewart. A: 1,426.
)In a battle of two of the top ranked defenses in the league, it was Liberty that bested Winthrop as the Flames held the Eagles to just 36.8 percent shooting on the night (21-of-57), while the Flames shot 46.3 percent from the field (25-of-54).
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
By Gary McCann The Herald
(Published February 21‚ 2006)
LYNCHBURG, Va. -- After a stupefying 78-71 loss to Liberty on Monday, at least Winthrop's Eagles know what they have to do in the last two games of the regular season.
They can't hope for help. They've got to win.
The Flames, a miserable 6-20 and 2-11 in the Big South Conference coming into the game, got 37 points from Larry Blair, handled the defensive pressure, won the boards and dealt the Eagles the most surprising loss of the season.
You could try to blame this one on Winthrop's double-overtime game against Northern Illinois, because there were times they moved like they were pulling a trailer. But the Flames were playing their fifth game in 10 days.
"They should be the tired team," Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall said, "but we looked like we were the tired team."
Or was it that they looked like the overconfident team?
Whatever the reason, the Eagles, 18-7 and 11-3 in the Big South, have backed themselves into a corner. To win the regular season and get the top seed and a chance to host every round of the conference tournament, they have to beat High Point at home on Thursday and Birmingham-Southern on the road on Saturday.
Birmingham-Southern beat Charleston Southern on Monday to move to 12-3. Now the Eagles have to worry about Coastal Carolina (10-4), also within reach of first place.
This one wasn't about who had legs, but who had will.
And who had Blair.
Blair, a 6-foot-1 junior, carved up the Eagles' defense with drives and jumpers. He hit 13-of-23 shots, 10-of-11 free throws and had 26 points in the second half.
"He's a tremendous player. He's a real competitor," Liberty coach Randy Dunton said. "And we caught Winthrop a little flat after the great win they had Saturday. And Larry was really engaged. If you're flat and he's engaged, you're at a disadvantage."
He was good enough to offset a career-night for Winthrop's Torrell Martin, who dumped in a career-high 32, hitting 11-of-20 shots. He was the only Eagle who brought a fully wired game to the Vines Center.
"Torrell was fantastic," Marshall said. "He was the only guy on our team who came ready to play. That's a sad statement. Unfortunately, our one-man show and their one-man show gave them the victory. He outscores Torrell by five and they win by seven.
"On their home court it's going to take more than one guy to come anywhere close to being a successful team."
That was evident from the outset, when the Eagles couldn't shake the Flames in the first half. They led by five at the half, but getting that was a struggle.
It didn't get any better in the second half, and the longer the Flames hung around, the more confident and aggressive they became.
Martin erased a 57-56 deficit with a 3-pointer, and Craig Bradshaw, who finished with 18 points, hit two free throws to give the Eagles a 61-57 lead with 5:31 left.
Enter Blair.
He hit an 18-footer, a fall-away 12-footer, two free throws and then split three defenders with a slick up-and-under move to cap a 12-2 run that put the Flames up 69-63 with 1:56 to go.
With the Eagles down 71-63, Martin tried to bring the Eagles back in the final 1:20, hitting two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 71-69.
Blair came up big again, beating Winthrop's pressure, driving up the gut of the defense, scoring, getting fouled and converting the free throw.
In the final 31 seconds, Rell Porter and Anthony Smith, who had 17 points, hit four straight free throws.
The Flames, who were beaten by 18 on the boards in the first meeting, beat the bigger Eagles 36-33 on the glass. They turned the ball over just 10 times and they shot 46 percent.
Other than Martin and a little from Bradshaw, the Eagles didn't get much from anyone else. Saturday's hero, James Shuler, hit 1-of-5 shots and finished with nine points. The bench produced four points.
"There were little sparks of play, but we really did not come to play, with the exception of Torrell," Marshall said.
"We've got to figure out what we want to do. This was nowhere near the team that played Saturday against Northern Illinois. We've got to win out. We may wind up being the third seed. We're as close to third as we are first now.
"That's just the way it is. To come here and lay an egg like this really makes you shake your head."
The Eagles, a unanimous choice to win the conference in the preseason poll, has to put it together in a hurry. Martin said he wasn't sure how the team would bounce back.
"Everybody's not on the page," Martin said. "We're not listening like we used to.
"I really don't know. We shouldn't even be in this predicament. Right now, got to look ahead to High Point and then to Birmingham-Southern and then just get it done."
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
The Flames, a miserable 6-20Man, I really only pay attention to the BS record, because it's really the only thing that ever matters, but when I'm reminded of the overall, it's depressing. Hopefully that'll change someday.
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