LU avoids the upset

Walt Allen’s look was clean. With two seconds remaining Saturday, the husky Presbyterian forward released a shot from about 27 feet away, standing in the ‘L’ on Liberty’s Vines Center floor. It spun halfway down and popped out, Bill Weaver grabbed the rebound and Liberty’s coaching staff finally had reason to exhale.

The Flames had just enough to beat the pesky Blue Hose, holding on for a 60-57 victory that moved Liberty back into fourth place in the muddled Big South standings. Some might have looked at PC’s 4-20 record entering the game and thought the Flames would win easily.

But nothing seems to come easy for Liberty, which ground its way back to the .500 mark once again. PC shot 53.3 percent, hitting contested outside shots to stay in the game. Liberty (12-12, 7-5 Big South) never led by double digits and the Blue Hose had multiple opportunities to tie or take the lead in the final few minutes.

“It felt like every possession was hard, a battle,” Liberty coach Dale Layer said. “It felt like with every shot, the game was going to swing one way or the other. And that’s fun. It’s not fun for the head coach. But it’s fun to play in and I think it makes your team get better. I think we showed a lot of character.”

That’s becoming a theme for this group, which shook off a 24-point thrashing from Winthrop at home Thursday. Last month, Liberty was on the wrong end of a 28-point beating at High Point but rebounded to win two days later.

“We didn’t split up, we stayed together. We stayed focused on what we needed to do,” said forward Antwan Burrus, who led Liberty with 18 points. “We’re still a team. We go to work every day.”

Already without leading scorer Kyle Ohman, who missed his fifth straight game with a broken left wrist, Liberty had to play much of the second half without starting forward Patrick Konan, who sprained his left big toe two minutes into the half and didn’t return.

That presented an opportunity for reserve forward Bill Weaver, who capitalized, scoring a layup on a pretty interior move with 3:31 left to put Liberty up 57-53. Weaver rarely plays in crunch-time situations, but the Flames had no choice with Konan on the shelf. He responded with two points and three rebounds in 10 minutes.

“That’s Bill Weaver,” said Liberty point guard Jesse Sanders, who had nine points, eight assists and six rebounds. “He’s an extremely hard worker with great character. He’s a teammate everybody dreams up. He comes ready to play every day in practice. He got an opportunity and he showcased what he can do. I love to see that.”

PC (4-21, 2-11) got within two points twice, the last time on Allen’s layup with 7.8 seconds left while being fouled by Burrus. He missed the free throw, Carter McMasters rebounded and was immediately fouled. He hit one of his two free throws, setting up the final play with Liberty up 60-57.

The Blue Hose used a timeout with 4.6 seconds left after Chase Holmes dribbled across half-court. They set up a play with four shooters on the perimeter. Travis Smith took the inbounds and passed up a shot in favor of passing to Allen, who was 2-for-3 from 3-point range before the desperation heave.

“We had four options,” PC coach Gregg Nibert said. “Travis had an open 3 but he made the extra pass. We had four guys lined up on the 3-point line. It was very unselfish and Walt Allen is a great 3-point shooter.”

Jake Troyli led Presbyterian with 20 points. As well as the Blue Hose shot, they were undone by Liberty’s staggering 35-14 rebounding edge. Presbyterian had just four rebounds at halftime and didn’t get its 10th board until late in the second half. Liberty turned 14 rebounds into 15 second-chance points, a huge difference in the game.

The Blue Hose were averaging 30.6 rebounds per game coming in. The numbers were skewed because Presbyterian chose to get back on defense to defend Liberty’s transition game, rather than sending more than two players to crash the offensive glass on a miss, Nibert said.

Said Burrus: “Coach is always in the players’ ear, stressing rebounding and boxing out. So me and Patrick and Carter and Bill, we tried to rebound. Last game against Winthrop, we really didn’t rebound too well. So we just tried to work together and get a lot of rebounds.”

PRESBYTERIAN (4-21)

Troyli 8-15 2-2 20, Reynolds 2-3 0-0 4, Smith 1-3 0-0 3, Mutakabbir 0-3 0-0 0, Holmes 7-12 0-2 15, Davis 2-3 0-0 5, Hargrave 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 4-6 0-1 10. Totals 24-45 2-5 57.

LIBERTY (12-12)

Konan 4-5 0-0 9, Burrus 5-9 8-8 18, Gordon 3-9 2-3 10, Anderson 2-5 0-0 6, Sanders 4-8 1-1 9, Perez 1-3 0-0 2, Minaya 0-1 0-0 0, Weaver 1-1 0-1 2, McMasters 1-3 1-2 4. Totals 21-44 12-15 60.

Halftime—Liberty 32-26. 3-Point Goals—Presbyterian 7-18 (Allen 2-4, Troyli 2-5, Davis 1-2, Smith 1-3, Holmes 1-3, Mutakabbir 0-1), Liberty 6-15 (Anderson 2-5, Gordon 2-5, McMasters 1-1, Konan 1-2, Perez 0-1, Sanders 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Presbyterian 14 (Troyli 4), Liberty 35 (Burrus 9). Assists—Presbyterian 17 (Smith 8), Liberty 13 (Sanders 8). Total Fouls—Presbyterian 14, Liberty 13. A—2,207.