Liberty Flames (10-12, 4-3 Big South) 50
Radford Highlanders (6-11, 2-4 Big South) 60
RADFORD, VA - Five consecutive defeats for Radford has now been followed by 2 straight wins as the Highlanders outlasted the Liberty Flames by a score of 60-50 in front of a small but raucous crowd at the Dedmon Center. With the 10 point victory, all 6 of Radford's Big South games have finished with double-digit margins. For Coach Vance's sake, now some of those games are W's.
The 1st half was nip and tuck all the way through. Radford shot 38% from the field while Liberty managed 1 percentage point higher at 39%. The difference was that Liberty turned the ball over 10 times compared to Radford's 3 turnovers. This allowed the Highlanders six more shots than the Flames and as a result, Radford took a 28-25 lead into halftime.
With 14:00 minutes left in the 2nd half, a Bamba Sweetney basket and foul shot gave Radford the games' first double digit lead at 39-28. The highest point of separation between the two teams was 13 points for Radford, but by the 4:00 mark of the 2nd half Liberty had scratched the lead down to 3 points. That was when Harlan Bright, a distributor rather than a scorer, nailed a clutch 3 pointer that broke Liberty's push and helped lift the Highlanders to another win.
The victory was a total team effort for Radford. Bamba Sweetney was the top scorer with 16 points, followed by Thomas Coulter and J.R. Cowen with 15 points. Harlan Bright had 7 points and 9 assists, and Adam Nevill added 6 points and 14 rebounds. For Liberty, their only double digit scorer was Felton Braxton with 16 points.
With two home victories under their belt, Radford now heads back on the road to play VMI (8-10, 2-4). If the Highlanders can knock off the Keydets, they would climb out of the Big South basement. That certainly seemed a distant possibility before this week.
| Liberty Flames at Radford Highlanders |
| Feb 2, 2008 | 1ST | 2ND | SCORE |
| Liberty (10-12) | 25 | 25 | 50 |
| Radford (6-11) | 28 | 32 | 60 |