Eagles extinguish flames in 1st round of Big South Tournament
Friday, July 9, 2010 at 8:34PM By Steven Bowers
It may have been cold and snowy outside, but Winthrop was hot and raining three’s on Liberty inside.
The Eagles got March Madness started off with an 80-72 victory over the visiting Flames in the first round of the Big South conference tournament.
The win was a nice bounce-back from two losses to close the regular season, and it set up a rematch with defending champion Radford in the semifinals.
“What time is it 9:12?” Winthrop head coach Randy Peele asked. “We’ll play them at 9:15 if they want.”
Winthrop shot exactly 50 percent in each half, but it was their unusually hot start from beyond the arc that provided a key surge. The Eagles made six of 11 3-pointers in the first half.
“They never shoot that well against anybody but us,” Liberty coach Dale Layer said.
A fire needs air to breathe, and Winthrop’s consistently smothering defense kept the Flames down to a flicker as Liberty made 11 of 30 shots in the first half and only two of 11 trifectas.
For the game, Liberty was held to 39 percent shooting and only seven of 26 on treys.
Sophomore guard Reggie Middleton was smoking as he torched the nets for a season-high 26 points. Senior forward Mantoris Robinson, who was named the first two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year the previous day, proved to be a wet blanket for Liberty freshman guard Evan Gordon. The Flames’ second leading scorer was held to five points, which all came in the final six minutes of the game.
“It’s tournament time, and we wanted to play better D,” Robinson said.
The do-it-all Robinson also had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore center Matt Morgan added 13 points.
The game got off to a scary start as Liberty jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead at the 17:47 mark. However, the Eagles quickly provided their own spark as they ran off the next 13 points over 4:08 behind five points a piece in the run from Middleton and Mantoris.
The game was the first postseason game for Middleton because he missed the end of his freshman year with a leg injury.
“The coaches kept reminding me I had to step up,” Middleton said. “I didn’t have a chance last year.”
After freshman guard Gideon Gamble hit a three, there was a Liberty foul away from the ball. Junior guard Justin Burton hit a jumper, and the five-point possession gave the Eagles a 20-11 lead and a completed 7-0 run.
The Flames cut the lead to one at 58-57 with 7:24 remaining on a 3-point play from sophomore guard Jesse Sanders, who had a career-high 25 points on the night.
A Robinson bucket inside, followed by nine straight points from Middleton, keyed an 11-3 run.
Liberty, however, refused to go away as they narrowed the margin again to three when senior guard Kyle Ohman hit a three with 1:40 left.
Forced to foul, the Eagles put the game on ice by making 7-of-8 free throws from there.
Peele said some people told him his team didn’t know how to win close games.
“I got offended by that,” Peele said, pointing out close wins over Liberty (twice), Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, UNC-Asheville and Limestone. “You go from the Limestone game to now and tell me if there is anyone more improved than we are.”
Liberty hasn’t beaten Winthrop in Rock Hill since 2004.
