Charleston Southern drops road test at Liberty, 76-69 – Charleston Post Courier

LYNCHBURG, VA. Despite a late second-half run, Charleston Southern dropped a 76-69 decision at Big South leader Liberty on Saturday

afternoon.

The Buccaneers trimmed a 16-point lead to four with under five minutes remaining but managed only two made baskets over the final four minutes.

CSU (8-17, 4-10) lost for the fourth time in five games.

The Flames (17-10, 12-2), who won their seventh straight game, put together two solid halves in the shooting department, hitting on 49 percent from the floor for the game. Myo Baxter-Bell, who averages only eight points per game, paced Liberty with 19 points and seven boards.

Ryan Kemrite added 16 points while Lovell Cabbil and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz added 12 points each. Pacheco also tallied eight assists in the win.

Charleston Southern shot 33 percent from the field in the first half and trailed, 37-27, at the break. The Buccaneers improved to 41 percent in the second half, hitting six 3-pointers.

Junior guard Cortez Mitchell scored a career-high 23 points to pace Charleston Southern. Freshman guard Christian Keeling added 12 points and sophomore guard Armel Potter chipped in with 11 points.

Libertys a very good team, CSU coach Barclay Radebaugh said. Theyre a very sound, extremely well-coached team. I was very proud of our effort.

CSU opened the game with consecutive 3s from Keeling and Antwan Maxwell for an early 6-2 lead, but Liberty answered with a 13-2 run with Kemrite hitting three 3-pointers to grab a 15-8 lead with 12:55 to play in the opening stanza.

The Buccaneers moved to within four at 18-14 but the Flames again ran away, using an 11-3 run to go up, 29-17. Libertys largest lead of the half was 16, at 33-17, and the Flames led, 37-27, at halftime.

Liberty maintained a working margin for most of the second half. Mitchell propelled a late rally with a 3-pointer to cut Libertys lead to 55-50 with 8:51 remaining in the game.

Three minutes later, Mitchell hit two free throws to cut the lead to 59-57 before Liberty opened a seven-point advantage. CSUs Patrick Wallace hit a long-range bomb with 4:35 left in the game, cutting Libertys lead to 64-60, but the Bucs could get no closer. CSUs last four minutes consisted of two field goals and five free throws.

The second half was outstanding, Radebaugh said. We went small, and thats what were supposed to look like right there 42 points in the second half, a lot of energy, a lot of great ball movement, a lot of good player movement and four guys on the court that can really, really shoot the ball. I was encouraged by our ability to really compete in the second half and hopefully we can carry that forward.

The Buccaneers host Campbell on Wednesday night.