Liberty took care of business Thursday night just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, by defeating the Kennesaw State Owls, 76-52. The Flames improve 27-3 overall and 13-2 in ASUN play.
With the win, the Flames clinch at least a share of the ASUN regular season title and wrap up the #1 seed in next week’s ASUN Tournament. As the 1-seed, Liberty has secured an automatic bid to the NIT should the Flames come up short in the ASUN Tournament and not advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Caleb Homesley and Scottie James dominated the offensive end of the floor for the Flames. Homesley reached the 20-point mark for the 5th time in 6 games as he finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from three point range. Scottie James added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 8 rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
The game was much closer than expected throughout the first half, as the Flames entered a 21 point favorite, but the Owls kept the game within 10 points throughout the first half. Kennesaw State would cut the lead to 6 by halftime and scored quickly out of the break to cut it to 4, but Liberty would respond with a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 13 at 44-31 early in the second half.
The Liberty run would extend to 16-0 as the lead ballooned to 20 on a corner three pointer by Kyle Rode. Rode had one of his best games of the conference season, finishing with 7 points and 3 rebounds while making both of his field goal attempts including one from three.
Liberty closes out the regular season Saturday afternoon in Nashville against Lipscomb with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. With a win, the Flames would clinch the program’s first ever outright conference regular season title. Liberty is currently 13-2 in ASUN play, half a game ahead of North Florida who finished the regular season at 13-3 following their win over Stetson Thursday night.
