CLINTON, S.C. - The Presbyterian College men's basketball played hard, pushing
Liberty all game long, but ultimately fell 77-67 in a Big South Conference
contest.
The Blue Hose (2-15, 0-5) were led by Chase Holmes' 19 points. The Flames (8-8,
3-1) were led by Kyle Ohman's game-high 23 points.
In addition to Holmes' team-high 19 points, rookie Travis Smith posted a
career-high 18 points while grabbing six rebounds. Khalid Mutakabbir chipped in
12 points while dishing out a couple of assists.
PC fell behind by 15 just five minutes into the second half, but rallied,
scoring the next seven points of the game on buckets by Holmes and Kevin Davis.
Down by nine, Zach Faircloth buried a deep three to make the score 58-50 in
favor of the visitors. However, Liberty responded, putting the team up 15 with
just 3:20 to play.
The Blue Hose did not quit. Holmes ignited the run with a twisting lay-up,
cutting the deficit to 13. After a basket by Liberty, Jake Troyli nailed a
three-point shot. Then, after a rebound by Troyli, Smith canned a long three
pointer to cut the lead to single digits. Playing solid defense, Holmes stole a
pass and out-raced the Flames down the court for a dunk, making the score 71-64
with 1:43 to play. The Blue Hose could get no closer in the contest.
In a tight contest throughout the first 20 minutes of play, Mutakabbir
continued his stellar scoring. He kept PC in the game by netting 12 points on
five-of-six shooting from the floor and making two-of-three from the charity
stripe.
Travis Smith gave the Blue Hose their only lead of the half, draining a
three-point shot from 22-feet out just 49 seconds into the game. After the
Flames widened their lead to 11, 22-11, with 13:02 to play in the opening
stanza, head coach Gregg Nibert's team climbed back into the game by netting 10
straight points.
Mutakabbir got things going by slicing through the defense for a lay-up. A
minute later, he again found his way to the basket for another two. Kevin Davis
dropped in an easy shot on a fast break after Holmes drew the defense to him.
Then, Holmes posted four straight points for PC, ending the nearly three-minute
run.
Liberty would answer the call, scoring eight straight of their own before PC
whittled the opposition's lead to four on a charity toss by Holmes with 4:19 to
play. With the score at 36-32 in favor of Liberty with 1:34 to play, the
visitors tallied the last five points to take a 41-31 lead into intermission.
For the game, PC shot a scorching 55.8 percent from the field, connecting on
29-of-52 shots, including six-of-14 from downtown. Liberty made 55.1 percent of
its shots, tallying 27-of-49 attempts. The biggest difference in the game came
at the foul line. The Flames hit 14-of-17 from the charity stripe while PC
managed to hit just three-of-nine.
The Blue Hose return to action Saturday evening when they host VMI in a 7 p.m.,
contest.
