BOX SCORE

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A game-high 21 points from freshman Jareal Smith wasn't enough as Radford fell to Liberty, 79-71 in Big South men's basketball action Thursday evening at the Vines Center.

Smith, who is averaging 20.3 points over his last three contests, finished 8-of-15 from the floor and 4-for-7 from behind the 3-point line. Tolga Cerrah also contributed 11 points for the Highlanders, all of which came in the second half.

"Our young guys are certainly getting better," commented Radford head coach Brad Greenberg ."Jareal has put together three very strong games and after getting in foul trouble early, Tolga played well in the second half."

Evan Gordon paced five Flames (18-8, 12-2 Big South) in double figures with 20 points, going 4-for-8 from the arc.  John Brown added 11 points and 13 rebounds. 

Liberty hit 71 percent of its attempt from the free throw line (22-for-31) and made 45 percent (24-of-53) of its tries from the field.  Radford shot 44 percent from the floor (27-for-62), scoring 40 points from inside the paint to just 26 for Liberty.

After Radford (5-19, 2-12) used an 18-6 run to grab its largest advantage of the contest, 30-22, the Flames closed the opening period on a lengthy spurt (18-7) of their own to take a 40-37 lead at the break.

Smith led all players at intermission with 14 points, including four of the Highlanders' six first-half 3-pointers.

Trailing 47-43 following a 10-3 Highlander run to start the second half, Liberty responded with a 14-4 streak to take control.  The Flames stretched the margin to as many as 14 with 4:33 to play on a pair of Joel Vander Pol free throws.

"We didn't get stops during that one stretch in the second half and weren't able to make threes like we did in the first half," Greenberg added.

The Highlanders finished with a 37-35 edge on the glass.

Radford will continue its stretch of six out of seven on the road to conclude the regular season with a 1 p.m. tip at VMI on Saturday.