Liberty (16-4, 4-3 CUSA) picked up its second straight win on Saturday night, knocking off FIU (7-13, 1-6), 82-59, in Miami.
“I thought we were consistent, we were tough,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said of his group. “I’m surprised we only had 15 assists on 31 baskets because we were really selfless. I thought our group showed a level of connectivity that we had in preseason. It’s been a little harder in conference play. Given the runway up to this one, because we had three or four guys miss practice, I think it was a total team effort and I’m really pleased.”
With the win, Ritchie McKay became the winningest coach in program history with 260 wins. The Flames improve to 2-1 in road games in CUSA play this season, already besting last year’s mark where the team only won 1 contest away from Liberty Arena in conference action.
“You really don’t think about it while you’re in the midst of the journey,” McKay said of his success. “I’m trying to give my very best. I want to represent Liberty the right way. That conviction is something I think our staff and our players share. We feel like it’s a privilege and an honor to be a part of a University like ours. Sure, winning is a part of it and I get that, but honestly what I’m most proud of is the kind of young people that have come through our doors. When they get here, they are terrific, and when they leave, they are even more emotionally mature and have some great spiritual depth in a lot of instances. We are going to try and produce men that continue to make His name great.”
Jonathan Aybar scored the first points of the contest with a two-point jumper at the 19:24 mark of the first half to give the Panthers the early advantage, but that would be the only lead for the home team on the night. The Flames would quickly respond with 9 straight points following consecutive jumpers by Jayvon Maughmer. FIU responded with five straight to cut the deficit to 2, but that would be as close as they got.
Liberty would go on a 7-0 spurt later in the first half, sparked by five points from Taelon Peter to push the lead over double figures at 31-19. FIU wouldn’t get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
In the second half, Liberty continued to add separation between them and the Panthers, going over 20 midway through the half. The margin got to as high as 26 before finishing at 23 in the final score.
With the wider lead, the Flames were able to get to the bench a little bit more than typical. Gabriel McKay played 13 minutes while Zander Yates saw 10 minutes of action and Brett Decker played 9 minutes. This allowed the top six players to limit their minutes with only Colin Porter (36) and Kaden Metheny (30) going over 30 minutes played on the night.
The Flames shot 60% from the field on the night, knocking down 31 of 52 field goals. Liberty was 46% from three, making 11 of 24. Meanwhile, the Flames held the home-standing Panthers to 39% shooting from the field and just 1 of 8 from three, helping Liberty to overcome a 14-2 offensive rebounding edge by FIU.
“I can always tell when we are hard to play against,” said McKay of the defensive performance of the Flames. “They had three assists the whole game. It means we were forcing them into some one on one stuff. Typically if your guys are guarding hard, typically it gives you a chance to get the desired outcome. The defensive effort, I think, was really good.”
Peter paced the Flames with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting and 4 of 7 from three. Metheny added 13 points on 3 of 7 shooting from three while Coin Porter added 12 points and 5 assists.
Liberty remains on the road this coming week with two games, beginning Thursday night at Kennesaw State. The Owls are currently 12-7 on the season and 4-2 in conference play prior to their game Saturday night at UTEP.
