University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Bulldogs Fall to Big South-Leading Liberty 59-55
01.02.2011 | Men's Basketball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Liberty remained perfect in the Big South Conference with a 59-55 hard-fought road win over UNC Asheville Sunday afternoon at Justice Center.
The Flames (10-6, 4-0 BSC) are off to their best league start in school history. They were led by Jesse Sanders with 16 points, while Evan Gordon added 15 points.
The Bulldogs (6-8, 1-3 BSC) were led by Chris Stephenson with 16 points. J.P. Primm finished with 11 points, five assists and four steals.
Asheville struggled through another tough day on offense. The Bulldogs shot just 35.3 percent (18-of-51) from the field, a dismal 13 percent (2-of-15) from beyond the arc and 60 percent (17-of-28) from the charity stripe.
"I was really impressed with Jesse Sanders of Liberty," stated Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. "He was the difference in the game. He hit some big shots when Liberty had to have them.
"We struggled offensively with our shooting and our ball-handling," added Biedenbach. "You can't miss free throws, get out-rebounded and expect to beat good teams like Liberty. We're playing hard, but we just need to be a little more consistent."
Liberty led 50-49 with less than two minutes left. Coming out of a time-out, Sanders knocked down a long three-pointer from the left-wing to put the Flames in front 53-49 at the 1:27 mark.
Leading 53-50 with less than a minute, left Gordon hit a 10-footer with the shot-clock winding down put the Flames in front 55-50 at the 35-second mark. Liberty was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds of the game to break a six-game losing streak to the Bulldogs at Justice Center.
The first half saw each team struggle to score. The Bulldogs scored just two points in the first seven minutes of the game as Liberty led 8-2. The Flames then allowed the Bulldogs to score the next 11 points as they went scoreless for eight minutes before a three-pointer from Chene Phillips cut the Asheville lead to 13-11 with 7:37 left in the half.
The Bulldogs struggled to score the rest of the half as they only scored three more points, allowing Liberty to lead 21-16 at halftime.
Asheville was an anemic 18 percent (5-of-27) from the field in the opening half. Liberty was just 8-of-24 from the field for 33.3 percent. The Bulldogs missed all eight of their three-point attempts in the first half.
The Bulldogs roared out of the gates in the second half as they out-scored the Flames 17-7 in the first seven minutes to built a 33-28 lead.
Liberty crawled back into the game and took the lead on a trey from John Caleb Sanders at the 6:45 mark to lead 40-38. The Flames never trailed again.
John Williams blocked three shots to give him a career total of 216 and move into third place on the Big South's all-time career shot-blocking list. He is already Asheville's all-time leader.
Asheville starts a difficult two-game road trip Thursday night at defending Big South Conference champion Winthrop at 7 p.m. Liberty hosts Charleston Southern Thursday night, also at 7 p.m.
