F.S. Key pulls away from Liberty, 77-68 Rebounding, defense spark Eagles at close

The talk going in was the Francis Scott Key Eagles were going to live or die from the outside this season.

That wasn't the case last night against visiting Liberty with the Eagles finding some other ways to come away with a 77-68 win.

It was pressure defense, strong rebounding and good execution down the stretch that proved to be the difference, as the Eagles (2-1) pulled away from the Lions (0-2) at the end.

Liberty took a 61-59 lead when James Lee (16 points) hit a three-pointer with 4:25 left. Francis Scott Key's defense and inside play took over from there.

Mike Crawmer, who had problems from outside the three-point line all night, blocked an Ed Ruch shot on Liberty's next possession and Dave Norwood scored on a follow at the other end to get Key even at 61.

The Eagles then went on a 12-3 run to take control, with Gabe Stephenson hitting a pair of free throws with a little more than a minute left to give them a 73-64 lead.

Stephenson finished with 21 points with 6-4 sophomore Kevin DeCarlo scoring 18 and providing most of the board work for Key.

"We were cold from the outside and just waiting for something to fall, but it never happened," said Key coach Jeff Cook. "We did a nice job rebounding and our defense got us some turnovers. I thought our pressure slowed them down a little."

The Lions did a good job of staying close throughout despite some early foul trouble with three starters -- Lee, Ruch and Luke Vriezen -- all with three fouls at the half.

Lee, Ruch and Tyrone Ellis, who along with Vriezen fouled out in the fourth quarter, all had 16 points for the Lions, but it wasn't enough.

"The biggest story was they made more efficient use of their possessions than we did," said Liberty coach Scott Kohr. "They had the better looks and more looks. Our kids played hard, they played a little harder."

Liberty closed out the first quarter with a 15-6 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 22-15 lead. The Lions added to the lead early in the second quarter and had the game's only double-digit advantage at 30-19 when Daryl Knight followed up a Liberty miss.

Key called timeout, responded with a 16-7 run to trail by two, 37-35, at the half.