ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
ANTHONY WALKER HOBBLES for 19 points, but the Highlanders fall to Liberty in the Big South tournament semifinals.
Liberty University's basketball team was a formidable enough obstacle for Radford when it was at full strength.
With its best player operating at 50 percent or less, the Flames were just too much.
Riding on the powerful inside game of towering Peter Aluma and solid fill-in-the-blanks contributions from teammates such as Erik Sorenson, Larry Jackson, and Mark Reed, the Flames stopped the plucky but outmanned Highlanders 85-73 in the semifinals of the Big South Conference tournament Friday night at the Vines Center.
As 8,343 hoops zealots screamed in approval, Liberty moved to 23-8 on the season and sailed into the conference championship at noon today against Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers beat North Carolina-Asheville 67-57 in the other semifinal.
As much as Aluma's unstoppable 27-point, nine-rebound stinging of Radford's single-covering defense, as much as his six blocked shots and at least as many hurries and intimidations, the story of the game was the Highlanders' Anthony Walker, who played 38 of the most courageous minutes ever seen in this tournament.
Walker scored 19 points, 17 in the second half, as he almost single-handedly brought Radford from behind. In the end, he could hardly walk to the postgame press conference, so sore was a left foot that has pained him since injuring it in practice Monday. Once he hobbled into the press conference, he could barely speak, so powerful were his emotions after his last collegiate game.
"Anthony Walker - what can you say?'' Liberty coach Jeff Meyer said. "He's a warrior.''
Corey Reed canned four 3-pointers and scored 17 points before fouling out with 4:23 left, and Leslie Ballard and Eric Bowens had a much-needed 11 and 10 points respectively, but Radford was clearly no match for the Flames without its best player in top form.
"It's so frustrating when we thought we could beat them and it's so unfortunate that this happened to Anthony,'' Radford coach Ron Bradley said. "With Anthony unable to do all the things he does for this team, it makes it very, very difficult.''
Walker estimated his effectiveness at 50 percent.
"He's not going to say this, but he should be on crutches,'' Bradley said. "He shouldn't have even been playing.''
The game spun out of Radford's control with 3:57 left in the first half. That was when Ballard went deep in the hole near the right baseline and arched in a 3-pointer to trim the Flames' lead to 25-23. Those were the last points the Highlanders would score before intermission.
Mark Reed fired in a trey with 2:44 left that put Liberty back up by five. Eric Parker was short on a shot from the lane, Marcus White snagged the rebound, and started a fast break that ended with Aluma spinning to his right for the soft lay-in.
Aluma would add another inside shot to finish with a powerhouse 18 for the half. Gabe Caldwell finished off a run of nine unanswered points to close the half with Liberty up 34-23.
By the end of the game, Liberty owned the backboards 43-29 and had held Radford to 38.7 percent shooting. NOTE: please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB