ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702040036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The Vines Center choked the life out of Radford University's basketball team again.
Or maybe it was simply the Liberty University defense.
Whatever, the second half of Saturday night's Big South clash between the old rivals was one extended throbbing headache for the Highlanders. Radford crumbled offensively as Liberty pulled away for a 70-63 victory.
That left Radford 0-6 here since the Flames entered the league. Overall, including tournament games, Radford is 1-8 in the basketball palace of the Big South.
Could there be a jinx involved here?
"It looks that way, doesn't it?'' Radford guard Anthony Walker said.
The Highlanders' senior leader has looked like a man who was born under a bad sign lately. His offensive woes mounted as he made just four of 16 shots and is 10-of-31 his past two games.
"I had the shots,'' he said, "I just didn't knock the shots down. Everybody else played great and put us into a position to win. In that situation, I'm expected to lead us. Once again, though, I didn't step up.''
That wasn't entirely accurate because he did have 10 points, all in the second half, and a team-leading six assists. Still, nothing can make a team that shoots 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) in the second half look very good.
What was that about a jinx?
"I don't believe that,'' Radford coach Ron Bradley said. "They have a good team and there were 6,537 people here. This is a tough place to play.''
Every place has been a tough place for Radford (9-10 overall, 3-5 Big South) to play lately. Liberty spruced up its record to 15-7 overall, 5-2 in the conference.
Five Flames were double-figure scorers led by Larry Jackson with 18. Center Peter Aluma added 15 points, as did Marcus White. The second half was a plodding 28-foul affair that Liberty took advantage of by making 13 of 18 free throws.
"Jeff [Meyer, the Liberty coach] made a great adjustment at the half to take us out of our pressure,'' Bradley said.
"Our objective was not to let them get into the kind of race-run game we had in the first half,'' Jackson said.
The first half was a brisk and entertaining spectacle uncluttered by excessive defense. It was also eerie how close the team's were statistically.
Radford shot 53.3 percent (16-of-30) and the Flames buried 51.7 percent of their shots (15-of-29). Liberty had a sliver of a 16-15 edge on the backboards. Radford had four turnovers to the Flames five.
Radford trailed most of the half but somehow managed to battle back into a 39-38 advantage by the break when freshman post player Ryan Charles converted a three-point play with 1:14 left before halftime.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB