Liberty’s Caleb Homesley has been named the ASUN Player of the Year and Ritchie McKay the ASUN Co-Coach of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.
Homesley becomes only the second ever Player of the Year in program history, joining Jesse Sanders who won Big South Player of the Year in 2011. Homesley leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points per game and assists at 2.5 per game, and he is also second on the team with 5.4 rebounds per game. During conference play, his numbers increased to 17.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game.
McKay wins the ASUN Coach of the Year nominee alongside North Florida’s Matt Driscoll. The Flames and Ospreys finished atop the ASUN standings with 13-3 marks in conference play. This is McKay’s 2nd Coach of the Year honor as he also won Big South Coach of the Year in 2016. The only other Liberty head coach to be named Coach of the Year at the Division I level was Dale Layer in 2011.
Homesley and McKay helped lead Liberty to its most successful regular season in school history. The Flames won 27 games as well as a share of the ASUN regular season title.
Scottie James was also named to the first-team all-conference and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz was named second-team all-ASUN. This is only the second time in school history the Flames have had three players named to the first or second all-conference team.
James leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 per game and is second on the team in scoring at 11 points per game. He also led the ASUN in 61.5% from the field and currently ranks 4th on Liberty’s all-time rebounding list with 870 points.
Pacheco-Ortiz is third in scoring at 10.7 points per game, the first time in his career he has ended the regular season averaging double-figures. He ranks first in the ASUN at 92.5% from the free throw line and is eighth in the league with an assist/turnover ratio of 1.63.
Homesley and James have been named to the ASUN First-Team All-Conference for the second straight season. This is just the third time in school history and second consecutive season the Flames have had two first-team all-conference honorees.
Homesley and James were joined on the first team by Lipscomb’s Ahsan Asadullah and North Florida’s Ivan Gandia-Rosa and Garrett Sams.
Pacheco-Ortiz was joined on the second team by Jacksonville’s David Bell, NJIT’s Zach Cooks, North Florida’s Carter Hendricksen, and Stetson’s Rob Perry.
Jacksonville’s David Bell was named the Defensive Player of the Year, while his teammate Destin Barnes was named the league’s Newcomer of the Year. Stetson’s Rob Perry was named Freshman of the Year.
The All-Freshman Team consisted of Perry and teammate Mahamadou Diawara, Lipscomb’s KJ Johnson, North Alabama’s Mervin James, and Jacksonville’s Mo Arnold.
Liberty’s Colton Reed was also named to the ASUN’s All-Academic team. He was joined by NJIT’s Reilly Walsh and Shyquan Gibbs, Lipscomb’s Ahsan Asadullah and Michael Buckland, and North Florida’s Wajid Aminu, JT Escobar, and Carter Hendricksen.
The Flames return to action Tuesday night against NJIT in the ASUN Championship Quarterfinals. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Vines Center and will be televised on ESPN+.
