The FMS Rockets knew they were up against a formidable foe Monday night in Chapel Hill when they took on Liberty and even though FMS never led in the contest, the Patriots needed all their talent to spurn a late Forrest comeback before prevailing 58-47.

"The playing behind was a rough place to be against a very good basketball team, and they are unbeaten in conference play," said FMS head coach Randy Toombs. "We can't play catch up to such a good team all night. They were very difficult to defend."

Close range

Liberty hit very few jump shots beyond 10 feet in the contest, pounding Forrest the entire night in the low post with Chris Houston doing most of the damage in the scoring column via a game high 24 points, including 4-8 from the free throw line.

"Liberty probably had the best player (Chris Houston) in our conference and we struggled all night guarding him in the low post," said Toombs.

The contest was a physical battle with a myriad of fouls called on both sides as the Patriots scored 19 out of their 57 points from the free throw line, while Forrest went 11-22 from the charity stripe.

"Giving up 58 points is not acceptable for us," said Toombs. "Nineteen of which came from the line because we put them on the line for 29 and you can't win that way."

Aim was true

Jacob Rich, who tied Dustin Brashear for team high scoring honors with 11 points, nailed nine out of 12 free throws for the Rockets.

Brashear continually kept Forrest close, knocking down three treys on the night with each three-ball coming at a crucial time in the game.

One Brashear long bomb midway through the third quarter spurred a rally that kept the Liberty lead at single digits, entering the fourth quarter.

With just over four minutes to play in the game, Forrest trailed 45-37 before the Rockets mounted their comeback, beginning with two free throws by Rich.

Catching up

Daniil Yatskov came up with a steal for FMS, leading to a huge three-point play in the paint by Josh Brown, slicing the Liberty lead to 45-42 with 3:30 remaining in the contest.

From there, the Pats went to work in the paint, scoring the next nine points, including seven made free throws to rebuff the Forrest comeback in the 11-point victory.

Yatskov scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds for Forrest, Alex Huey added six points, Brown netted five, Dylan Watt scored four points, and Dylan Jones had a deuce.

"I'm proud of the effort the guys showed tonight," said Toombs. "Scoring 47 should give you a chance to win, but our defense still lacks the whole team effort. Man defense takes all five working together and it seems we can't seem to put it together yet."

FMS won 26-19 in Manchester on Tuesday to improve to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in conference play.