Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502280039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 SPORTS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Liberty University, which had been left for roadkill as recently as two weeks ago, has lurched into gear.
The Flames, who had lost six consecutive games, closed the regular season with a flourish by beating Radford University 68-57 on Saturday night for the Flames' first victory at the Dedmon Center.
``Finally, we got one,'' said Liberty coach Jeff Meyer.
Even more significant than breaking that psychological barrier, the 1994 Big South Conference Tournament champions have won three of their past four games and are heading home to the Vines Center for next week's tournament.
The Vines Center, with its army of fervent Liberty boosters, is regarded as the toughest arena in the league for opposing teams. More than the Vines Center, Liberty, or anybody else, Radford (15-11 overall, 9-7 in the conference) must worry about itself. The Highlanders had won five in a row before falling to Charleston Southern 76-65 on Monday and Liberty.
``The entire team, coaches, whatever, is going to have to take the challenge of getting ready for the tournament,'' said Radford coach Ron Bradley.
During crucial stages of both halves Saturday, the Highlanders' offense (and frequently their defense) abandoned them.
Radford went 8:11 of the first half between field goals and agonized as a 21-12 lead turned into a 39-31 deficit. Then, in the last minutes of the game, after the Highlanders had trimmed a 14-point Flames lead to 54-52 on a Jason Lansdown breakaway layup with 4:54 left, Radford stalled again. From that point on, Liberty (11-15, 7-9) went on a 14-5 run to win going away.
Peter Aluma and Larry Jackson each scored six points in the Flames' triumphant charge.
Jackson finished with a game-high 19 points, nine coming on 3-pointers and six coming from the free-throw line, where he did not miss. Aluma, a 6-foot-10 Nigerian post player who can be difficult to handle one-on-one, had 14 points - 12 in the second half. Aluma played only nine minutes in the first half because he had drawn two fouls.
``I was trying to guard him from behind, and everybody else was supposed to sag back and help,'' said Radford center Antoine Dalton. ``But that wasn't very effective because he got his shots off quickly.''
Jackson said it was just a matter of being patient.
``We executed on offense,'' he said. ``We kept working it around, and their defense would break down after two or three passes.''
Liberty made 40.9 percent of its field-goal attempts (Radford shot 40.8), but went 7-for-17 from 3-point range and outscored Radford 25-13 from the free-throw line. The Flames attempted 35 free throws, with Jason Dixon sinking eight of 12 en route to scoring 12 points before he fouled out.
Radford's record fell to 2-9 this season in games when it shoots worse than 45 percent.
``Once our offense goes down, our whole game goes down,'' said guard Anthony Walker, who scored 10 points and combined with fellow guard Lansdown for 4-for-18 shooting. ``Once the intensity level goes down, you have no chance.''
Dalton scored 19 points for Radford, 13 in the second half.
by CNB