Liberty beat Charleston Southern, 81-70. Here’s our rapid reactions:

  1. The win ends Charleston Southern’s 5 game winning streak over the Flames dating back to the 2013 Big South Championship game. It’s also Liberty’s first win in the BucDome since 2012.
  2. The 2-0 start in Big South play is the first time the Flames have done that since the 2010-11 season.
  3. Admittedly this is the first time I’ve watched Charleston Southern play this year, but they were clearly trying to push the pace early and often. Not sure if that’s the way they play all the time, or if this was a specific strategy to try to speed up Liberty and it’s top Big South scoring defense.
  4. Ryan Kemrite came out on fire, he made 4 first half 3-pointers. Kemrite’s outside shot cooled off as the game progressed, but he would finish the game with 19 points on 6/11 shooting from the field and 4/9 from 3.
  5. Both teams shot very well in the first half, as the Flames went in to the break shooting 58% from the field and 59% from 3 while the Bucs were shooting 50% from the field in the first half. The squads continued their hot shooting in the 2nd half, Liberty finished the game shooting 52% from the field and 15/28 from 3 good for 54%. CSU shot 48% from the field and 38% from 3 on the afternoon.
  6. John Dawson knocked down his first two shots from the field, both from 3, an encouraging sign from the senior captain who has struggled with his shot most of the season. He hit a huge 3 for the Flames after CSU had cut the lead to 6. His 3 pushed it to 9 with 4:30 left in the game. Dawson went on to finish the game with 16 points on 4/7 shooting. He also added 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
  7. Lovell Cabbil had 3 key 3 pointers in the 2nd half. The first put an end to a 7-0 CSU run which had cut Liberty’s lead to 5. He then hit back-to-back 3s to help spur the Flames on an 8-0 run and push the lead to 12 with 9 minutes to play. Cabbil had a solid game, finishing with 11 points before fouling out in the final minutes.
  8. Liberty controlled the game throughout as the Flames led from start to finish with the game only being tied once.
  9. The Flames had just 5 turnovers on the game as they played a very clean game. Liberty also had 17 assists on their 24 made field goals.
  10. Huge home game on Tuesday night to open the Flames’ home portion of their conference schedule. Liberty takes on UNC Asheville, defending Big South champions.