The Flames conclude their regular season with a disappointing home loss to Radford, 87-83.

  1. Liberty was unable to sustain any momentum they had gained with consecutive wins over Campbell and Longwood.
  2. Many of the same, recurring problems reared their ugly head again in this one. The Flames led by 9 with just 5:31 to play in the game. It wouldn’t matter as Radford closed the game on a 21-8 run. This included a 13-0 run from the 5:31 mark to the 1:35 mark when a Joe Retic 3 point play would stop the bleeding. By that point it was too late though.
  3. The Flames shot 51% from the field for the game, but in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the game,  went just 2-for-8 from the field with 4 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Highlanders were 5-for-8 including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range and just 1 turnover during this time.
  4. Antwan Burrus concluded his VInes Center career with 19 points and and 8 rebounds to lead the way for the Flames.
  5. Tomasz Gielo had another solid outing, finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
  6. John Caleb Sanders and Davon Marshall added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
  7. Drew Smith finished with a solid line of 9 points and 7 rebounds.
  8. Joe Retic, who had been playing very well of late, had 8 points, 4 assists, and 6 turnovers, a season-high in turnovers. Retic had just 5 turnovers in his previous 4 games.
  9. Liberty had 16 turnovers and the Highlanders killed them in points off turnovers, 19-4.
  10. The loss is Liberty’s 20th on the season, their 2nd consecutive 20-loss season, that’s only happened 1 other time in program history (1976-78). The Flames finish the regular season with the same overall record as a year ago (11-20), but 5-11 in conference play compared to a 6-10 mark last season. Liberty will finish the season with its 3rd straight losing mark, and consecutive losing records in conference play for the first time since 2000-02.
  11. Next, the Flames head to Conway, South Carolina for the 2014 Big South Tournament. Liberty, the 5 seed from the North Division, will face the 4 seed from the South, Winthrop. The game is scheduled to start at noon on Wednesday, the first game of the tournament. The winner faces #1 seed from the North, High Point. at noon on Friday.
  12. The Flames lost to Winthrop in the teams’ only meeting this season, 73-62. The game was played February 4th in Lynchburg. Here’s our overtime report from that matchup.

Box Score