Thursday, March 5
Radford, Va.
6:00 PM
Liberty University
22-11
58
vs
78
No. 2 VMI - BSC Semifinals
24-7
1st half1
2nd half2
FinalF
Liberty
32
26
58
#2 VMI
27
51
78
Flames Fall to VMI in Semifinals
3/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 3 seed Liberty Flames (22-11) were unable to hold a halftime lead over the No. 2 VMI Keydets (24-7), Thursday night, in the semifinal round of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Championship, falling late inside Radford's Dedmon Center, 78-58. The loss marks the second straight season Liberty exits the Big South Basketball Championship in the semifinal round.
Anthony Smith hit a three at 19:30 and Kyle Ohman connected on a layup at 18:51 to give Liberty the early 5-0 lead. After back-to-back Jesse Sanders buckets, the second coming at 16:20, the Flames had mounted a 9-2 advantage on the Keydets.
Chavis Holmes hit a jumper at 9:33, tying the game at 14-14, capping a 12-5 VMI spurt. Holmes scored six of the 12 points during the run. Liberty counterpunched, scoring the next four points to take an 18-14 lead. Seth Curry scored a bucket in transition and Smith capped the run with two free throws at 8:49.
A Ron Burks trey, Adam Lonon layup and a Michael Sparks three-point bucket, finished off a 10-2 run, giving VMI the four point lead, 24-20, with 3:50 left in the opening stanza. But, the Flames reacted quickly, closing out the half on a 12-3 run.
During the Liberty jaunt, Curry connected on five of the 12 points, including a 30-footer with Lonon in his face as the shot clock expired at the 1:15 mark. Tyler Baker punctuated the spurt with a layup off a Johnny Stephene dime with 28.4 seconds left before the intermission. Liberty held a defensive line and Brolin Floyd came up with the rebound off a Chavis Holmes miss, as the clock hit double zero on the first half.
Liberty connected on 50.0 percent (12-of-24) from the floor in the opening period, but was limited to a 20.0 percent effort from behind the arc (2-of-10).
VMI succeeded on a much lesser rate than Liberty during the opening 20 minutes, hitting 29.0 percent (9-of-31) of its attempts from the floor, including 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from long range.
The Keydets shot out of the intermission on a 15-6 run, taking a 42-38 advantage. Back-to-back three-pointers by Chavis Holmes and Keith Gabriel capped the run. VMI continued to lengthen its lead by scoring 18 of the game's next 28 points, taking a 12 point lead, 60-48. During the run Travis Holmes took over, scoring 10 of the 18 points, including a run capping dunk at 7:40.
A Chavis Holmes layup at 5:43 extended the VMI advantage to 21 points, 69-48, finishing off a two minutes span where the Keydets scored nine straight markers. The Flames cut into its deficit, 71-56, after an 8-2 spurt, completed by back-to-back treys by Kyle Ohman and Baker, the second coming from the Albuquerque, N.M., native at 3:34.
However, Liberty wouldn't cut into the 15 point advantage any more, as VMI extended and held down the fort, taking the 78-58 victory and advancing to Saturday's championship game.
Liberty faltered from the floor in the second period, hitting only 30.3 percent (10-of-33) of its shots, finishing the game at a 38.6 percent (22-of-57) clip, including 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from three-point land.
Ohman paced Liberty with 16 points and six rebounds. Smith finished off his days against Big South competition in fine fashion, collecting his 11th career double-double and sixth against VMI with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Curry was held scoreless in the second period, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
VMI found its stroke in the second half, hitting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) of its shots during the final 20 minutes, leading to a 42.6 percent (26-of-61) clip for the game. The Keydets also connected on 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from three-point land.
Chavis Holmes led all scorers with 22 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting. Travis Holmes added 16 points and six rebounds, while Ron Burks chipped in 11 markers and seven caroms in the winning effort.
With the victory, VMI advances to Saturday's championship game against the winner of No. 1 Radford and No. 4 UNC Asheville.
The loss brings one of four Division I era 20-win seasons for Liberty to an end for now at 22-11; however, the Flames are one of several teams that could be considered for continued postseason play in various events.
Anthony Smith hit a three at 19:30 and Kyle Ohman connected on a layup at 18:51 to give Liberty the early 5-0 lead. After back-to-back Jesse Sanders buckets, the second coming at 16:20, the Flames had mounted a 9-2 advantage on the Keydets.
Chavis Holmes hit a jumper at 9:33, tying the game at 14-14, capping a 12-5 VMI spurt. Holmes scored six of the 12 points during the run. Liberty counterpunched, scoring the next four points to take an 18-14 lead. Seth Curry scored a bucket in transition and Smith capped the run with two free throws at 8:49.
A Ron Burks trey, Adam Lonon layup and a Michael Sparks three-point bucket, finished off a 10-2 run, giving VMI the four point lead, 24-20, with 3:50 left in the opening stanza. But, the Flames reacted quickly, closing out the half on a 12-3 run.
During the Liberty jaunt, Curry connected on five of the 12 points, including a 30-footer with Lonon in his face as the shot clock expired at the 1:15 mark. Tyler Baker punctuated the spurt with a layup off a Johnny Stephene dime with 28.4 seconds left before the intermission. Liberty held a defensive line and Brolin Floyd came up with the rebound off a Chavis Holmes miss, as the clock hit double zero on the first half.
Liberty connected on 50.0 percent (12-of-24) from the floor in the opening period, but was limited to a 20.0 percent effort from behind the arc (2-of-10).
VMI succeeded on a much lesser rate than Liberty during the opening 20 minutes, hitting 29.0 percent (9-of-31) of its attempts from the floor, including 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from long range.
The Keydets shot out of the intermission on a 15-6 run, taking a 42-38 advantage. Back-to-back three-pointers by Chavis Holmes and Keith Gabriel capped the run. VMI continued to lengthen its lead by scoring 18 of the game's next 28 points, taking a 12 point lead, 60-48. During the run Travis Holmes took over, scoring 10 of the 18 points, including a run capping dunk at 7:40.
A Chavis Holmes layup at 5:43 extended the VMI advantage to 21 points, 69-48, finishing off a two minutes span where the Keydets scored nine straight markers. The Flames cut into its deficit, 71-56, after an 8-2 spurt, completed by back-to-back treys by Kyle Ohman and Baker, the second coming from the Albuquerque, N.M., native at 3:34.
However, Liberty wouldn't cut into the 15 point advantage any more, as VMI extended and held down the fort, taking the 78-58 victory and advancing to Saturday's championship game.
Liberty faltered from the floor in the second period, hitting only 30.3 percent (10-of-33) of its shots, finishing the game at a 38.6 percent (22-of-57) clip, including 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from three-point land.
Ohman paced Liberty with 16 points and six rebounds. Smith finished off his days against Big South competition in fine fashion, collecting his 11th career double-double and sixth against VMI with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Curry was held scoreless in the second period, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
VMI found its stroke in the second half, hitting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) of its shots during the final 20 minutes, leading to a 42.6 percent (26-of-61) clip for the game. The Keydets also connected on 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from three-point land.
Chavis Holmes led all scorers with 22 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting. Travis Holmes added 16 points and six rebounds, while Ron Burks chipped in 11 markers and seven caroms in the winning effort.
With the victory, VMI advances to Saturday's championship game against the winner of No. 1 Radford and No. 4 UNC Asheville.
The loss brings one of four Division I era 20-win seasons for Liberty to an end for now at 22-11; however, the Flames are one of several teams that could be considered for continued postseason play in various events.
Team Stats
LU
#2VMI
FG%
.386
.426
3FG%
.227
.345
FT%
.643
.593
RB
40
39
TO
17
10
STL
5
10
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
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