BOILING SPRINGS – Liam O'Reilly scored 22 of his career-high 27 points in the second half, including a key three-pointer with 55 seconds left to push Gardner-Webb to a 58-55 win over Liberty Saturday afternoon in both teams' Big South Conference opener.

Gardner-Webb (6-8, 1-0 Big South) won its third in a row in the process and remained unbeaten in Paul Porter Arena this season (5-0).

O'Reilly drained a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to pull Gardner-Webb to within 25-22 at the break and heated up quickly over the final 20 minutes. His three-pointer with 17:45 left put the Runnin' Bulldogs up 27-26 and he erased another Liberty lead with a trey at the 13:40 mark – putting Gardner-Webb up 34-32.

That triple was part of a 7-0 run for Gardner-Webb, with O'Reilly scoring five of those points himself. His free throws with 11:38 remaining put the 'Dogs up 38-32, but the Flames (9-5, 0-1 Big South) had a run in store.

Ryan Kemrite ignited an 11-3 run for Liberty with a driving layup, then capped it with a corner three-pointer for a 43-41 lead with 9:20 on the game clock. It would be the last lead of the game for the Flames.

O'Reilly countered with a jumper late in the shot clock to tie the score and point guard Christian Turner shook free inside for a layup to give Gardner-Webb a 45-53 lead at the 6:45 mark. Liberty tied the score on a pair of Lovell Cabbil free throws with 5:32 to play – but O'Reilly put the Runnin' Bulldogs on his back to give the home team the lead for good.

The Austin, Texas, senior drained three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, with his second forcing a Liberty timeout and giving Gardner-Webb a 51-45 lead with 4:30 left to play.

The Runnin' Bulldogs held at least a two-possession cushion until less than 90 seconds remained, when Cabbil was fouled and made two free throws after a steal. Those charity shots cut the lead to 55-53, and Gardner-Webb needed another play from its senior sharpshooter.

With the shot clock winding down on its next possession, O'Reilly stepped into another triple – his seventh of the game – to put Gardner-Webb up 58-53 with 55.4 seconds left.

Caleb Homesley converted a layup with 40.1 seconds left to cut the lead to three, but Gardner-Webb was able to run the clock down to 11 seconds before missing a shot on the other end. Liberty had a chance to tie, but Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz was defended well on a last-second three-point attempt that fell short.

O'Reilly finished the day by knocking down 9-of-17 field goals and 7-of-11 from long range. He started slow, making just 1-of-6 shot in the early going – before connecting on 8-of-11 attempts over the game's final 21 minutes. He added a team-high eight rebounds, dished off three assists and made both of his free throws in 36 productive minutes.

Turner (nine points), Patrick Zeck (seven points) and Efianayi (six points) helped drive the shorthanded Runnin' Bulldogs – who played the game with standout forward DJ Laster playing under the weather with an illness and center Brandon Miller missing his fourth game in a row with an injury.

Gardner-Webb sot 41.5 percent for the game (22-of-53), made 5-of-6 free throws (83.3 percent) and knocked home 9-of-21 shots from long range (42.9 percent). GWU also held a 34-33 edge on the glass, despite its depleted front line. Zeck, who started in the post, had seven rebounds and defended well against a big lineup.

Liberty shot just 37.0 percent for the game, and made just 1-of-10 from long range in the second half. Forward Scottie James scored a team-high 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, but scored just one point and was 0-for-3 from the floor in the second half.

Cabbil (nine points), Elijah Cuffee (nine points) and Kemrite (eight points) also helped power the Flames' offense. Liberty led by as many as eight midway through the first half, before Gardner-Webb found its range and began to pull back into the game by intermission.

Gardner-Webb will hit the road for its next pair of league games, first traveling to face Campbell and preseason Big South Player of the Year Chris Clemons on Wednesday night (Jan. 3) in Buies Creek. Opening tip is set for 7:00 pm on the Big South Network (bigsouthsports.com).