After a one hour delay due to a roof leak Saturday night at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Alabama, the No. 1 seed Liberty Flames (28-6, 13-5 CUSA) defeated No. 2 seed Jacksonville State (22-12, 12-6 CUSA), 79-67.
“Praise God,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said to open his post game press conference. “It’s really hard to win a championship. All that you go through, the season long journey is sometimes a bumpy road to better. I’m really proud of our group because they just responded on every occasion. I think as leaders, as men, we get two ways we can choose when something adverse happens to us. You can either react or respond. I love being around this group because they are constantly responding. Having a chance to do life with them and watch them in their true identity is special.”
With the win, the Flames secure the CUSA Conference Tournament Title to go along with the team’s regular season title. It is Liberty’s seventh conference tournament title in the program’s Division I history and the first since 2021. It is head coach Ritchie McKay’s fourth conference tournament championship during his time at Liberty, all coming over the past seven seasons. Liberty now advances to the NCAA Tournament and will learn of their seed and destination on Selection Sunday, tomorrow night beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern.
“We are really proud to represent Conference USA and Liberty University in the NCAA Tournament,” said McKay. “Having been there a few times and not been there in three years, I know what a privilege it is and I’m glad our guys get to experience it.”
Jax State scored the first six points of the game and led 12-4 with 14:49 left in the first half. Flames’ point guard Colin Porter hit a three-pointer 24 seconds later to jumpstart the Liberty offense. From that point, the Flames would go on a 25-6 run to push its lead 13 in the closing minutes of the first half.
The Gamecocks wouldn’t go away without a fight. They cut the lead to four by halftime, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. Liberty used an 8-0 spurt early in the second half to get the lead back to double figures and it would stay in that range for the duration.
“It’s like threading the eye of a needle in the dark,” said McKay of how difficult it is to make the Big Dance as a mid-major. “Think of how near perfect we had to be just to get here. We had a decent NET and a decent KenPom and I didn’t see our name as an at-large candidate on one of the Bracketologist’s list. And that’s a 28-6 team. It’s a pursuit of ours, but it doesn’t define us.”
CUSA Player of the Year Jaron Pierre scored 16 points in the first half, but the Flames locked him down in the second half. He did not make a field goal the final 20 minutes and didn’t get in the scoring column in the final period until 3:28 left, making just three free throws after halftime to finish with 20 points. He was also just 6 of 17 from the field.
Kaden Metheny, named Tournament MVP, led the way with 21 points while making 5 of 10 from behind the three-point line. For the three games in Huntsville, Metheny averaged 20.3 points per game while shooting an insane 16/31(51.6%) from three-point range. One of the more clutch performances in program history.
Taelon Peter joined Metheny on the All-Tournament Team. He scored 20 points in the championship win on a perfect 7 of 7 from the floor including 3 of 3 from three. It marked the second game of the CUSA Tournament where Peter made all of his field goal attempts, as he also did in the Quarterfinal win over UTEP when he was 5 of 5 and 4 of 4 from three for 14 points.
Colin Porter finished with 13 points and 9 assists while making all three of his three point attempts. Zach Cleveland rounded out the double figures scorers for the Flames, finishing with 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Liberty shot 60% from the floor and from three-point range, making 12 of 20 triples. The Gamecocks were held to 6 of 18 for 33% from three and 44% from the floor. Liberty made 7 of 9 free throws and did not attempt one until the final five minutes of the game.
“It’s really hard to be grateful for what you feel entitled to,” McKay said. “I don’t ever want to feel entitled for winning. I want our guys to celebrate it and enjoy it because I think it’s really hard to do. That game could have gone either way tonight. Some of the distractions in the pregame could have sent you a different direction, but our guys are responders. It doesn’t mean we’re going to win every time, but I do think we’re going to compete and give our very best.”
