Men’s Basketball rolls past Liberty on the road, 84-54

Junior Mike Morrison goes in for the dunk in the Patriots' 30-point road victory over the Liberty Flames Saturday night. (John Powell)

In their first true road contest of the season, the Men’s Patriots (8-2) put on an electrifying performance, routing the Liberty Flames (6-5), 84-54, to improve their winning streak to six games.

“Being an away game, to come out with a victory like this just shows a lot of heart and a lot of effort,” senior Cam Long said.

The Patriots got off to a thrilling start, opening the game on an 8-2 run, forcing the Flames to call a quick timeout.

The Flames settled down, however, responding with an 11-3 run of their own to take the lead. The two teams exchanged baskets until Liberty opened up a 19-16 lead at the 12:21 mark in the first half, which would prove to be the Flames last lead of the game.

Suddenly the Patriots erupted, rapidly expanding their lead throughout the remainder of the half. They entered the locker room with a comfortable 48-26 lead, the Patriots highest single-half output of the season.

“Everything just started clicking,” Long said. “We started finding each other open, we started setting the right screens, and started getting defensive stops.”

The squad shot an almost unheard of 74 percent from the field in the first half, and 56 percent from beyond the arc, silencing the Liberty home crowd. Eight different players scored for the Patriots in the first 20 minutes.

“With the defense holding and the offense clicking, we were able to build a substantial lead at halftime,” Head Coach Jim Larranaga said.

The lead hovered around 25 points for the majority of the second half, as the Patriots prevented the Flames from catching fire down the stretch. The final margin stretched to 30 due in large part to the impressive second half performance by junior Ryan Pearson.

Pearson finished with 16 points, 10 of which came in the second half. He shot 7-8 from the field and 2-2 from three-point land. His only miss of the game was his final shot.

“We were able to go to him and he was able to score,” Larranaga said. “Once he scored inside I think it gave him the confidence to go ahead and step outside and shoot the three.”

Long, fresh off a game in which he reached 1,000 points for his career, also scored 16 for the Patriots. Sophomore Luke Hancock added 12 points to the effort.

The Patriots shot 60 percent from the field for the game and 43 percent from downtown. Eleven different players reached the scorer’s column, and the bench contributed 28 points to the blowout win.

“The whole game is based upon a team effort, so we definitely need our bench,” Long said.

Once again, the Patriots’ offense was propelled by solid defense. They forced 17 turnovers, scoring 29 points off those giveaways. They also held the Flames to 25 percent from three-point land.

“Liberty is really good at getting in the paint and kicking it out, but we kept them from doing that,” Long said.

Larranaga was concerned entering the contest about the team’s mindset during exam time, as well as playing on the road following five consecutive games in the Patriot Center. But the Patriots handled the adversity with ease.

“We really stepped up to the challenge of those two things, we played well on the road and we were well-focused,” Larranaga said.

The leading scorers for the Flames were Evan Gordon, the brother of L.A. Clippers star, Eric Gordon, and Jesse Sanders, with 12.

Larranaga’s crew will play their next two games on the road against Atlantic-10 opponents after breaking for exams. They face Duquesne Dec. 22, followed by Dayton Dec. 29. They return home Jan. 3 to play Delaware, the Patriots’ second conference game of the season.