The Liberty Flames opened defense of its 2019 ASUN men’s basketball championship where it left off last season, with a 59-46 win over Florida Gulf Coast.
The Flames were paced by ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Homesley who scored 24 points, the most he’s had in a game this season since he scored 25 at East Carolina on November 16th. Homesley tweaked his hamstring in that game, and went on to miss the majority of the next four games. Homesley had struggled to find his offensive rhythm in his six prior games after returning to action.
Liberty got off to a hot start, behind Homesley, to grab an early double digit lead at 14-4 prior the under 12 minute media timeout. Homesley had 7 points and 6 rebounds in the opening minutes while fellow first-team all-ASUN honoree from last season Scottie James added 4 points.
That combo scored the team’s first 11 points before true freshman Kyle Rode came in off the bench to score 5 quick points in his ASUN debut. The Eagles were held to just 4 points in the opening 12 minutes of action as they struggled to get any offense going against stingy Liberty defense.
The Flames went into the halftime break with a 30-16 advantage.
When play resumed in the second half it was more of the same, as Liberty pushed its lead to 20, at 43-23, as FGCU called a timeout with 12:13 to play. Homesley still paced the Flames as he reached a game high 18.
The Eagles would attempt to cut into Liberty’s lead down the stretch getting as close as 11 points before the Flames held them at bay.
Behind Homesley, Scottie James was the only other Flame to reach double figures, as the redshirt-senior scored 10 points in 18 minutes. Elijah Cuffee chipped in 7 points in a team-high 37 minutes. All eight Flames that played in the game reached the scoring column.
Liberty has a quick turnaround as they head north to Newark, New Jersey to face NJIT on Saturday afternoon in the Highlanders ASUN debut this season.
