Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993 TAG: 9303050195
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
RADFORD PUTS OUT FLAMES
The day of the dog ended with the white jerseys going down in blazes once again.Radford, the No. 5 seed, summoned considerable energies to upset archrival and fourth-seeded Liberty 73-69 in the opening round of the Big South Conference basketball tournament Thursday.
That capped a day in which there were an unprecedented three upsets, including Maryland-Baltimore County's 85-67 win over third-seeded Campbell and Winthrop's 83-79 triumph over top-seeded Towson State.
Radford plays Winthrop in the 6 o'clock semifinal tonight. UMBC and Coastal Carolina will meet in the nightcap.
Radford had beaten Liberty 79-74 on Feb. 27 in a highly emotional game and there was some question whether the Highlanders could summon that resolve again.
"It wouldn't matter if we had Furman eliminates VMI. B4 FSU holds off Ga. Tech. B4 to play them 10 games in a row," Radford point guard Brian Schmall said. "We'd still be sky-high for them."
Radford (15-15) did a fine job of holding off the Flames (16-14) down the stretch despite missing some key free throws in the waning minutes.
Victory was not assured until Doug Day, who scored a quiet 14 points in 40 minutes, dumped in a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to provide an insurmountable lead and what would turn out to be the final margin.
Radford got 22 points, including 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range from Schmall, 16 points and nine rebounds from Don Burgess, and 10 points, five rebounds and four assists from Tyrone Travis. But the key was defense, not usually a Radford strong point.
Liberty's Parish Hickman, who averages 17.6 points per game, was held to 11 on 4-for-10 shooting. Travis led a contingent that included fellow starter Tom Gallaher and reserves Antoine Dalton and Eric Bowens in a sticky interior defense.
"We know Parish is a trash-talker," Travis said. "We wanted the score and our play to do the talking and just let him go on."
Another strong effort came from Day, who held Matt Hildebrand to eight points.
"Day did a great job," Radford coach Ron Bradley said.
Liberty's first lead didn't come until 32 seconds before halftime. Keith Ferguson sank the second of a two-shot foul after being clipped by Schmall while driving into the lane. That made the score 29-28, where it stood when the horn blew for the break.
The Highlanders tried to contain Julius Nwosu by double-teaming him with a guard at every opportunity, but he led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 14 points. He made four shots from the floor, all from point-blank range, but missed five of 11 free throws. He finished with 26.
Liberty took 16 free throws and made eight.
Travis had three fouls as did Antoine Dalton, who'd come off the bench to offer some relief. Still, Radford played with poise despite shooting 37.9 percent. Schmall hit a pair of way-downtown 3-pointers and Day and Burgess had one each to help the Highlanders keep Liberty at bay. \
see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.