[El Scorcho]

The Flames pick up their 12th win of the season.



Discuss it here.

[Sly Fox]

[grm]

Another good win - any win is a good win - decent record and hopefully moving up some more - encouraged for the future - encouraged for the tournament.

Just happy for the wins....

[grm]

+, we're 1/2 game out of third.....

[El Scorcho]

So how big is Monday's game in the Vines Center after this win? The biggest of the season at this point in time.

We (the university collectively) should really do whatever it takes to get the students out for that game.

[grm]

Bunch of props for BJ from RD. Big game on Monday night...
"RD's goal" - 9 game winning streak....
9 game winning streak - win 20 games & go to NCAA tournament..

[Sly Fox]

Postgame Interview on radio with Larry Blair:

What did CSU do to keep you from scoring in the 1st Half?
"I was just sharing the ball with my teammates and getting everybody involved. In the second half I got more aggressive with my shooting."

The early efforts to work it inside:
"Rell & Russell played awesome inside and gave us a good lift to start the game. That's the way we played them last time and then work our way out to the perimeter."

On his Team-High 6 Assists:
"I'm definitely a team player and I believe in them 100%. Sometimes because I'm a good scorer they forget I get these guys involved."

On Fellow Senior Donnell Covington:
"I've seen him grow over the years and build this ball club. You can;'t tell from their record but he does a great job. Maybe we'll see each other again."

Monday's Game against Coastal Carolina:
"Its definitely a big game and Coastal is well-coached. They play hard inside and outside. Monday night is going to be a big game regardless of what happens tonight."

Who will try and stop Jack Leasure?
"Last time Smith took most of the game defending him. But in the course of a game we'll all do our best to keep in check. You have to play him honest because he'll make you play. He's capable of lighting a team up at any time."

On Closing in on Big South All-Time Scoring Mark:
"Five more games to play. It'd be something that would be great to do. But first foremost is trying to get my team back to the championship game."



Coach Dunton Postgame Comments:

On Early Emphasis on Going Inside:
"When they went with Outen from the outset I thought Rell could take advantage of that matchup, And Rell and Russell both came out and got us started. But to be honest I think we came out a little flat today with this 1 o'clock start. I thought they had too many uncontested shots. But int he second half we really clamped down."

Offensive Flow and Performance of B.J. Jenkins:
"A big stat tonight is 17 assists and 12 turnovers and we did much better defensively. I think we're really seeing the emergence of B.J. Jenkins. The only thing holding B.J. back is the presence of Larry Blair. I've got to find him more minutes. He really brings the energy. When he wants to put his head down and drive he can really create a shot. He's kept his head down and really been persistent."

Monday's Matchup with CCU:
"Monday night is a big, big game. A lot of that has to do with what happens tonight at High Point. If they lose tonight and we win on Monday it puts us in a great shape. One thing I told my guys this week is that I want us to start a 9-game winning streak because if we did that we could go tot he NCAA Tournament. We have to set high goals and not keep things so shortsighted."

About VMI Winning Again Today:
"They are in the hunt. I'm sure up there they could conceivably get to 7-7. And one year there were like five times tied at 7-7. Its college basketball and you have to be prepared every night. But we're focused right now on Coastal."

[TDDance234]

That block was HUGE by Baker.

One of the best I've seen all year.

[jmdickens]

I think Brew played well.....nice line for his limited minutes

[whmatthews]

Ace has to stop mouthing off. Russell is doing a great job, but Alex just looks like he's in a bad mood out there.

[lureal]

great to win and continue to move forward. i like coach d challenge of trying to win out to the NCAA tourney. monday is a big conference battle. let's get behind our coach and team making it tough on coastal. smitty played very well. lb had a ton of energy in 2nd half. bj and brew are flat good! mcclean needs to pick it up and match porter's level of intensity.
radebaugh said liberty was the most improved team throughout the conference and marshall said dunton had really coached this team up. maybe they know alittle about the game. monday is very important in bsc standings.

[SuperJon]

Once I get the video off of the tape and on to the computer, I'll post it on YouTube. I think there are 7 FlameFans.com sightings in it.

[grm]

Hey Matthews, That's fantastic on the "Killer Bees!"

... Alex has done some great things, and he could still do some things greater. I believe he will.

How can Brew consistently shoot such a high percentage? How good is he?

It's obvious we've come together, and at least visible that with a few more improvements there is another level
that we might reach by Tournament Time.

Dunton, Demand, Develop, Dictate, until, by the grace of God, we again Dominate!

Where's that 5 bucks that somebody mentioned ?

[BJWilliams]

Very nice win for the boys...

I was talking to Coach Dunton and he says that Ryan Barbosa, the kid I tipped em to end of last year was in attendance. Looks like the boys gave him a good show.

[TIMSCAR20]

Once I get the video off of the tape and on to the computer, I'll post it on YouTube. I think there are 7 FlameFans.com sightings in it.

Maybe I will give you the tape of "the dunk vs ETSU" so you can youtube it for me someday!
Coastal loosing today was huge. Buzz was down in Chapel Hill earlier in the day enjoying a reunion of 2 of UNC's national championn: 57 and 82. 25 and 50 years ago. MJ, Perkins, Worthy, Dean Smith were all there.

[PeterParker]

What was the attendance like today? Did the lunch promotion work or did it flop?

[thepostman]

no...the love conference hurt the attendance...it was a little over 2200...and i think that was actually accurate...

I don't think we played extremely well today, but its good to see us winning even if we aren't playing at our best...I hope that they show up to play hard monday...by far the biggest game of the season so far...lets get a huge crowd....if somebody is good at making fliers they should design one...e-mail the design to several people to cut down on printing costs and we could hand them out...put them everywhere...if someone is good at the kind of thing, i would be willing to print some out...

[TylerBakersGonnaBGreat]

If you think there were only 2200 there, you have a drug problem... at least 3,000 MINIMUM

[thepostman]

haha...alright man...either way, not really the crowd they were hoping for I am sure...regardless...we need at least 5,000 at the game monday...

[SuperJon]

If you think there were only 2200 there, you have a drug problem... at least 3,000 MINIMUM

Those kids didn't get there until after halftime, which is when attendance is cut off. Go ahead and admit you have an agenda just like some people on here do with Coach.

[bigsmooth]

nice win for the guys, and a huge game monday night! man i hope we can get a good crowd in the furnace. that could make the difference!!

[TIMSCAR20]

I am with the poster that suggested last semester that all other activities on campus should cease when there is a major sporting event like football or men's and women's hoops. The conflicts of interest are amazing. I don't remember having to compete with anything when I played but we did have something going on around campus every once in a while when I coached in the mid 90's. I know we need to have things to do for the kids esp since there are 10,000 of them now but man, can we get the calendars together to avoid conflict next year? There are only 12-14 dates you have to worry about for Men's hoops and another 5 or 6 for football with 99.9% of those on Saturday afternoon or evening and an occasional Thursday (1 so far in 35 years).

[whmatthews]

It felt weird being at a game at 1:00 that wasn't at the football field. I think night games are way better. The attendance was better than I thought it would be.

[Sly Fox]

From Chris ...

Flames bounce back against Bulldogs

By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 10, 2007

In the Big South, it's known as the Winthrop hangover.

A team plays the unbeaten, league-leading Eagles tough, then falls apart in its next game. It happened to High Point, which lost to Longwood after losing to Winthrop by a point. Coastal Carolina had the same problem, falling at Charleston Southern after a two-point loss at WU.

Liberty, which lost by four at Winthrop on Tuesday after holding a 13-point lead in the first half, avoided a similar fate by handling Charleston Southern 83-73 on Saturday at Vines Center. The game was close until early in the second half, when LU clamped down defensively and put the game away.

"Sooner or later, you're going to play a tad bit flat, and we were a tad bit flat on the defensive end," Liberty coach Randy Dunton said. "But we were still really efficient on the offensive end, and the first 12 minutes of the second half, that was really as defensive minded as we've been in a while."

With one in the books, only Monday's game with Coastal Carolina remains on the Big South home slate for the Flames (12-13, 6-5 Big South), who improved to 11-2 at Vines Center. Liberty's only home conference loss this year was to Winthrop.

"From the start of the season, we were talking about it - take care of home court, and we'll be fine," said guard Larry Blair, who led the Flames with 18 points and six assists. "We have to do what we have to do to get two tough wins. One more game left now."

Saturday's win was expected. The Flames' only road win this year came at CSU. Barclay Radebaugh's squad has played the last month without leading scorer Chris Moore (broken foot) and leading rebounder V.J. Fails (dismissed from team). Down to eight scholarship players, the Bucs (8-18, 2-9) are 3-15 since starting the year 5-2.

Still, CSU hung close until early in the second half. Down 10 early, CSU rallied to take the lead late in the first half. Liberty led by four at the break, and the Bucs pulled within 39-38 on Shelton Carter's 3-pointer with 18:29 left.

Anthony Smith scored while being fouled, then hit the free throw, jumpstarting an 8-0 run that pushed the Flames' lead to 47-38 with 16:54 left. CSU never got closer than six, and LU led by as many as 17 in the second half.

"If you go from start to finish, they've improved more than any team in our league," Radebaugh said. "We were getting the same shots (in the second half), but we're very limited in our personnel, so we got fatigued. (Liberty) really had a lot to do with that, pushing the ball up the court and making us defend. They're talented players."

Dwayne Jackson scored a game-high 19 points for CSU, and Terrence Grier, a walk-on, added 14. Dwight Brewington scored 13 points on 5 of 5 shooting for LU.

TIP-INS: Russell Monroe made his second straight start in place of forward Alex McLean, who was benched at the end of the Winthrop game for disciplinary reasons. McLean had seven points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes. Monroe had four points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. *** Blair, who is 78 points away from passing Coastal Carolina's Tony Dunkin as the Big South's all-time leading scorer, will play his final home regular-season game Monday against the Chanticleers. "It's gone by so fast," he said. "I'm pumped up for every game. But that one, I have to leave something out there on the court."

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

[Ed Dantes]

I am with the poster that suggested last semester that all other activities on campus should cease when there is a major sporting event like football or men's and women's hoops. The conflicts of interest are amazing. I don't remember having to compete with anything when I played but we did have something going on around campus every once in a while when I coached in the mid 90's. I know we need to have things to do for the kids esp since there are 10,000 of them now but man, can we get the calendars together to avoid conflict next year? There are only 12-14 dates you have to worry about for Men's hoops and another 5 or 6 for football with 99.9% of those on Saturday afternoon or evening and an occasional Thursday (1 so far in 35 years).

It gets pretty ridiculous when LU has spring break the same week that the women have their conference championship. I've seen it when there are more people involved with the game (players, coaches, personnel, arena staff) than there are people in the stands.