CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Liberty coach Dale Laney doesn't care how many losses it took to get his players to the NCAA tournament.
The
Flames became just the second 20-loss team to reach college
basketball's marquee event, beating Charleston Southern 87-76 Sunday to
win the Big South Conference title. Liberty opened the season with eight
straight losses and had never won more than three in a row until this
week. Yet, it joined Coppin State in 2008 as the only schools with 20 or
more defeats in the field of 68.
The
Flames' .429 winning percentage (15-20) is the lowest for an NCAA
tournament team since Oakland (Michigan) had a 12-18 record (.400) in
2005.
"That's awesome," Laney said of his team. "We've got the hats, right?"
Yes, you do, Coach.
The
Flames finished their best stretch of basketball this year, winning
their fifth in a row — and their fourth game since Tuesday — to take
their first Big South tournament crown since 2004. John Caleb Sanders
led the way with 27 points and tournament MVP Davon Marshall had 20 off
six 3-pointers.
Marshall and Sanders got things going in a hurry
over top-seeded Charleston Southern (19-12) with 3-pointers in the first
90 seconds — and the Flames barely lost their outside touch. Marshall
was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc and Liberty finished 9 of 18 on
long-range baskets.
The performance ended a hard-to-imagine run
through the field where Liberty defeated home-standing Coastal Carolina
and both Big South divisional winners in High Point and Charleston
Southern. Sanders said the team began to believe when they topped the
Chanticleers 78-61. "When you can beat Coastal by 20 on their home
floor, we knew we could beat anybody in this tournament," he said.
That played out over the week at the HTC Center with the improbable run.
"We've
played four of our best games in these four games of the tournament,"
Sanders said. "Talk about peaking at the exact right time."
Count
on Liberty being near the bottom of the 68 NCAA seeds and a likely
candidate for the tournament's first-four contests. Sanders says he and
the Flames don't care which opponent they face.
"I feel like if we do us, we can give them a game," he said.
Saah Nimley had 18 points to lead the Buccaneers, who as the Big South's regular-season champs will play in the NIT.
The
Flames and their cheerleaders rushed the court when the game ended, the
players piling on top of each other in celebration. And why not, since
Liberty was among the longest of longshots to be cutting down the nets
in this one?
Liberty will try and pull off a Big South tournament
double later Sunday when its top-seeded women's team takes on Longwood
for that NCAA berth. The Flames women have won 14 of the past 16 Big
South tournament titles.
The Flames fell behind for a final time,
40-37, on Arlon Harper's 3-pointer with 18:10 lead. That's when Sanders'
jumper started a 17-7 run the next six minutes to take control. The
charge was capped by Marshall's long 3-pointer that put Liberty ahead
54-47. The lead eventually grew to 14 points as the Bucs could not match
Liberty's success from the field.
Charleston Southern was just 9
of 28 from behind the arc and Nimley, who made the all-Big South
Conference team, was just 1 of 7 from three. The Bucs finished with five
players in double figures.
Buccaneers coach Barclay Radebaugh
said he told people after his team's 79-75 victory at Liberty on Jan. 26
that he wanted no part of what the Flames were building a second time.
"I
think they're lying in wait," he said. "That's a scary team. They've
got size, they've got depth. They're guards are good. They're strong."
Charleston
Southern came in the tournament's top seed and would have hosted this
final under the Big South's old home-court format. The league began a
three-year deal to play at the recently opened, $35 million HTC Center
on the campus of Big South member Coastal Carolina — about 10 miles or
so west of South Carolina's Grand Strand, Myrtle Beach resort area.
The
Buccaneers hadn't been to a Big South final since 2005 and last won in
1997, also the last time they advanced to the NCAA tournament. They got
to the championship by defeating Winthrop in the tournament opener and
rallied from 5 points down at the half to oust VMI, 71-65.
Charleston
Southern had gone from nine victories in 2009 to back-to-back 19-win
seasons the past two years. Both their leading scorers in Nimley and
Harper are sophomores so Radebaugh believes the Bucs aren't done
contending for Big South crowns. First things first, though.
"I'm really looking forward to the NIT," Radebaugh said. "It's not going to be a show up game for us."
Liberty
was next to last in the Big South's six-team North Division. That's
when the Flames found their game, topping host Coastal Carolina in the
opening round before knocking off one of the tournament favorites in
High Point, 61-60, in the quarterfinals. The Flames led throughout
against High Point, taking a 19-point lead and holding on.
Liberty kept the run going on Saturday with a win over Gardner-Webb.
The
Flames didn't let up against Charleston Southern. Sanders, the team's
leading scorer this year at 13 points a game, nearly reached that mark
with 12 points in the period while Marshall added 11.
Tavares
Speaks hit a bucket as the halftime buzzer sounded that put the Flames
ahead 35-34 heading into the break. Speaks ended the game with 18
points.
Laney, Liberty's fourth-year coach, previously led
Colorado State into the NCAAs back in 2003. He said it was difficult to
compare experiences and chooses to concentrate on his happy players,
snipping away at basketball nets to take back to campus.
"It's
life changing. I'm just looking at their faces and trying to soak in
every moment," he said. "That's what you're doing this for."
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