LIBERTY 86, VIRGINIA 82
Seth Curry and Kyle Ohman each tallied a career-high 26 points, helping the Liberty Flames (2-1) defeat the Virginia Cavaliers (3-1) on Tuesday night, 86-82, inside John Paul Jones Arena.  The Flames jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, courtesy of eight straight Ohman points, including two three-point buckets.  Curry capped the run with a jumper from the left elbow at 15:35.  Virginia cut the deficit to four points, 13-9, via a 7-3 spurt, capped by Jerome Meyinsse’s rebound and put back at 12:10.  Liberty extended its lead back up to eight points, 17-9, when Curry hit a lay-up at 10:34.  Curry scored four straight points, with his second field goal of the spurt coming at 4:21, but that was all the offense Liberty could muster during a 17-4 Virginia run.  The Cavaliers capped the run on a Sylven Landesburg bucket at 3:20, charging to the 26-22 advantage.

Liberty made a final push to close out the half with an advantage, retaking the lead, 35-32, via a 13-6 run.  During Liberty’s run Ohman hit his fifth and sixth three-point buckets of the opening stanza, while Anthony Smith tallied two lay-ups.  The Flames were able to enter the intermission with the three-point lead, courtesy of Curry’s contested trey as time expired.  Ohman led Liberty with 17 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting, helping the Flames connect on 46.7 percent (14-of-30) from the floor in the first period. Liberty also connected on 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from beyond the arc.  Virginia was a tad better from the floor, connecting on 47.8 percent (11-of-23), including 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from three-point land.

The second half started out neck-and-neck, with Virginia taking a brief one-point lead, 41-40, after a Landesburg free throw at 17:16.  Liberty retook the lead, 43-41, when Smith tallied a trey from the wing at 16:15.  A Calvin Baker trey at 15:55 gave the Cavaliers another one point lead, 44-43.  The Flames then scored five-straight points to take a four-point advantage, 48-44.  Curry connected on a trey from the wing and Smith tallied a bucket in the paint at 15:01.  Two Smith free throws and Curry’s fourth trey of the game at 12:33 gave the Flames another four-point lead, 53-49, coming after Sammy Zeglinski tallied four-straight markers for the Cavaliers.  Back-to-back three-point buckets by Zeglinski gave the Cavaliers the 59-57 advantage at 10:05.  Liberty then went on an 8-0 run to grab a six-point lead, 65-59.  Johnny Stephene hit a three-point bucket from the corner at 7:55 to cap the run.

The Cavaliers and Flames battled back and forth, as Virginia managed to cut Liberty’s lead down to one point on four separate occasions.  However, the Flames remained steadfast, going 8-of-11 from the charity strip in the closing two minutes of action to hold on for the victory.  The victory served as Liberty’s second win in eight tries against Virginia, and first since the Flames took home a 69-64 triumph on Jan. 7, 1998.  With 9,263 fans in attendance for the four-point victory, the contest marked the highest attended game Liberty has won, either home or on the road.  The previous road high to see a Liberty victory was 6,898 fans at the Flames’ victory over Wisconsin-Stevens Point on March 16, 1983.  Overall, the largest crowd to see a Liberty victory was 8,515 on March 6, 2004, when the Flames captured the 2004 Big South Championship over High Point, inside the Vines Center.

The Flames shot a stout 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the floor in the second half, finishing 56.6 percent (30-of-53) on the night.  Liberty shot 50 percent (13-of-26) from three-point range.  Ohman tallied a career-high 26 points on 9-of-12, including 6-of-8 from three-point land.  Curry matched Ohman’s career night with 26 points of his own on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-8 from three-point land. Smith chipped in 21 point on 8-of-14 shooting, while dishing out six assists.  Jesse Sanders led the point, dishing out a career-high eight assists.  Curry, Ohman and Smith became the first Liberty trio to each tally 20 or more points in the same game since since Feb. 21, 2007, when Alex McLean (40), Larry Blair (28) and Dwight Brewington (26) all reached the mark in a 118-108 Flames’ victory at VMI.  Virginia finished the contest connecting on 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the floor, while succeeding on 40.6 percent (13-of-32) of its tries from beyond the arc.  Zeglinski led the Cavaliers with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-10 from three-point range, all of which came in the second half.  Landesberg, Virginia’s highly touted freshman, finished with 17 points, marking the first game of the McDonald’s All-American’s collegiate career that he failed to reach the 20-point plateau.  Mike Scott pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds, helping the Cavaliers win the rebound battle, 37-23.

Liberty returns to action on Friday, when they host Coker in the first game of the Liberty Thanksgiving Classic. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. inside the Vines Center.  South Carolina State and William & Mary are also participating in the tournament and will close out Friday’s action at 8:15 p.m.

WOFFORD 74, UNC ASHEVILLE 69
Wofford guard Junior Salters scored  20 points to lead the Terriers to 74-69 non-conference victory over UNC Asheville Tuesday night at Johnson Arena.  The Bulldogs (3-2) trailed by nine with three minutes left but rallied.  Asheville had two three-point shots to tie the game but came up short.  The Bulldogs had five players score in double figures.  Senior forward Reid Augst led Asheville with 15 points.  John Williams added 14 points.  Sean Smith finished with 12 points, while J.P. Primm and Matt Dickey contributed 11 points each.

Salters, who was the MVP at the Air Force Classic this past weekend, went 5-of-9 from the three-point line.  Jason Dawson added 12 points for Wofford.  Wofford led 66-59 with two minutes left.  Asheville got free throws from Smith to cut the lead to 66-61.  The Bulldogs forced a turnover and Augst was fouled at the 1:14 mark.  He made the first free throw but missed the second.  Primm rebounded the ball and scored to cut the lead to 66-64.  The Terriers would get a three-point play and two free throws to push the lead to 71-64 but the Bulldogs had one more run in them.  A three-point play from Augst make it 71-67 at the 35-second mark. Primm forced a steal and scored on a lay-up to cut the lead to 71-69.

Noah Dahlman hit a free throw to put Wofford in front 72-69 with 28 seconds left.  The Bulldogs had two chances to tie as Dickey and Augst missed three-pointers that would have tied the game.  Brad Loesing of Wofford hit two free throws at the three-second mark to seal the win.  The Bulldogs led for much of the first half before Wofford went on a 9-0 run late in the first half to give the Terriers a 28-24 lead. Salters had two long treys for Wofford during the run. UNC Asheville trailed 34-31 at halftime.

The Bulldogs play next at top-ranked North Carolina Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.

SOUTH FLORIDA 59, HIGH POINT 46
The High Point University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 59-46 decision to the University of South Florida on Tuesday night at the Sun Dome.  HPU (1-3) held a lead over the Big East squad for the entire first half and battled throughout before falling behind in the closing minutes to the Bulls (2-1).  A switching Panther defense held USF's top two scorers well below their season averages in the contest.  Junior Eugene Harris scored 17 points, including five three-pointers, in leading the Panther offense.  Junior Cruz Daniels, playing close to his home in Clearwater, Fla., added nine points and recorded three blocked shots.  Freshman Nick Barbour added eight points for HPU while fellow freshman David Singleton dished out a personal best six assists.  Sophomore Dave Campbell pulled down seven rebounds to pace the Panthers on the glass.  Chris Howard led the Bulls with 14 points while Eladio Espinosa was the game's top rebounder with 10 boards.

High Point got out of the blocks quickly scoring the first five points of the game.  USF battled back to knot the score at five, before HPU edged back in front 12-7 on a basket by Barbour with 13:17 left in the period.  From that point, the Panthers cooled off from the floor going scoreless for over six minutes of play.  However, HPU's defense limited the Bulls to just five points during the stretch keeping the score tied at 12.  Jacob Iati drilled a long three-pointer to end the drought for the Panthers.  After a pair of free throws by USF, Harris scored the Panthers next 11 points including back-to-back treys to help push HPU in front by seven, 26-19, with 3:13 remaining in the half.  High Point maintained an advantage into the break holding a 28-24 lead at halftime.

The game stayed close up to the first media timeout in the second half with HPU keeping a slight 32-30 lead.  The Bulls used a 17-4 run over the next eight minutes of play to gain control of the momentum in the game.  Aris Williams sparked the USF surge with eight points in the rally to give the Bulls a 47-36 lead with 8:30 to play.  The Panthers refused to quit scoring eight straight points on a pair of threes by Harris and a dunk from Daniels to close the deficit to just three points, 47-44, at the 5:23 mark.  HPU could get no closer as USF converted several free throw attempts in the final minutes to secure the victory.

High Point will make a quick return to action, hosting Montreat College on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Millis Center.  The game marks the first in a stretch that keeps the Panthers at home for six of their next seven contests.

WILLIAM & MARY 73, RADFORD 53
William & Mary opened the second half on a 13-0 run and knocked down 28-of-32 free throws en route to a 73-53 victory over Radford in non-conference men's basketball action Tuesday evening at Kaplan Arena.  After the Tribe’s lengthy spurt and being held scoreless for the first 6:38 of the final frame, Radford (2-2) reeled off six unanswered of its own to cut the William & Mary (2-3) lead to 43-40 on an Artsiom Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) two-handed jam.  A Quinn McDowell three with 10:31 left sparked another Tribe run as they extended their lead back to double digits, not allowing the Highlanders closer than eight the rest of the way.

Radford’s Kenny Thomas (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) led all players at the half with 13 points, including all three of his club’s buckets from long range.  Parakhouski also hit double figures in the first 20 minutes of action scoring 12 points, while making all six of his attempts from the charity stripe.  A David Schneider trey at the 8:53 mark, gave William & Mary its first lead, 15-13, since the opening minute, but Radford responded with an 8-0 run capped by an Eric Hall (Greensboro, N.C./Ben L. Smith) three-point play to give the Highlanders their largest lead of the game, 21-15.  The Tribe answered with a small spurt of their own and cut the deficit to one on several occasions, but Thomas’ three with 31 seconds remaining in the half gave Radford a 34-30 advantage at the break.  Despite five players with two first-half fouls, the Highlanders connected on 60-percent of their attempts from floor and behind the arc in the opening period.

For the third consecutive contest, Parakhouski paced the Highlanders in scoring with 18 points.  Danny Sumner led three William & Mary players in double figures with a game-high 21 points, while Schneider and Chris Darnell added 16 and 14, respectively.  Schneider and Darnell combined to go 16-of-17 from the stripe.  After torching the nets in the first period, Radford shot just 28.6 percent following intermission to finish with a 41.7 percent (20-48) clip.  William & Mary also concluded the contest just over 40 percent (19-47) from the field, but missed just two of its 22 attempts from the line in the second half.  The Highlanders held a slim 31-30 advantage on the glass.  William & Mary turned 20 Radford turnovers into 25 points.

Radford will conclude its first of four three-game road trips this season with a 7 p.m. tip at Navy Saturday evening in Annapolis, Md.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE 74, WINTHROP 48
Winthrop had no answer for the inside scoring attack of North Carolina State's big men as the Eagles fell to the Wolfpack 74-48 Tuesday night at the RBC Center.  N.C. State's three big men outscored Winthrop's post players 40-9 as it improved to 7-0 in the all-time series against the Eagles.  Winthrop drops to 1-4 after losing its fourth straight road game while the Wolfpack improves to 3-0.

With Winthrop struggling to get the ball inside on offense, the Eagles reverted to taking outside jumpers and finished the game connecting on just 28.6 percent from the floor (18-63).   Cameron Stanley led the Eagles in scoring for the third straight game as he finished with 15 points to go along with a season-high 8 rebounds.  Mantoris Robinson finished with nine points as he was the only Winthrop player who was able to score off drives to the basket.  Ben McCauley finished with a team-high 15 points and 11 rebounds and was able to overpower Winthrop inside.  He was one of four Wolfpack players who reached double figures.  Tracy Smith, a back-up center, came off the bench to score 13 while 6-8 Brandon Costner added 12 while Courtney Fells finished with 10.  One of the bright spots for Winthrop was the play of red-shirt freshman Chris Malcolm, who grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked two shots and scored five points in 19 minutes of action.

Winthrop returns home on Saturday night to face East Carolina for a 7 p.m. game.  The Eagles have defeated ECU the past four times they have met.

THE CITADEL 84, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 80
Charleston Southern went back to the North Charleston Coliseum to play another cross town rival in The Citadel Bulldogs Tuesday, but came up just short in an 84-80 loss.  Omar Carter and Jamarco Warren scored 20 and 25, respectively, but it was not enough to get past the Bulldogs, who shot 53 percent from the floor for the night.  CSU dropped to 2-3 with the loss while The Citadel moved to 3-2.  Warren led the Bucs in scoring for the fifth straight game, putting up 25, which marks his fourth straight game of 20 points or more.  Kelvin Martin recorded his third straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Carter just missed a double-double of his own with 20 points and 9 boards.  Giedrius Knysas and JT Knight were also able to contribute with six points a piece.  The Bulldogs were led by Cameron Wells who had 26 points, 22 of which were in the second half. 

The first half showed three ties and four lead changes, with CSU leading by as many as seven.  The Citadel reached the scoreboard first with a three point play, but Carter answered with five straight points to give the Bucs their first lead, 5-3.  A five point run by the Bulldogs was immediately followed with a 12-2 run by CSU, capped off by a Knight layup to give the Bucs an 18-11 lead in the tenth minute of play.   The Citadel climbed back into the game, taking advantage of eight CSU turnovers, which led to 15 points for the Bulldogs.  Despite some miscues by the Bucs, they went into the locker room down just six, 30-36. 

The second half featured a lot more offense by the top scorers from each team.  Demetrius Nelson for the Bulldogs, who had been sidelined due to foul trouble in the first half, made an immediate impact in the second with five quick points.  Tovi Bailey responded in a big way with a three point play that cut the lead to four, 43-39.  The Buccaneers got to within two points of the Bulldogs on three separate occasions, but were never able to take the lead.  The last two point lead came at 8:47, when Warren was fouled on a jump shot and was able to convert on three straight free throws, putting the score at 58-60.  The Citadel controlled the lead from that point, behind Wells’ 22 second half points.  CSU tried to steal the game in the late seconds again, but the Bulldogs hit enough foul shots to secure an 84-80 win.

The Buccaneers will have a short Thanksgiving break, before they return to the CSU Field House to host North Florida on Friday, November 28, at 7:30 p.m.

SOUTH CAROLINA 85, GARDNER-WEBB 70
game story to follow...