Liberty improved to 12-1 on the e season and ran its win streak to nine straight with a 79-56 win over UT Arlington (6-7) on Saturday afternoon at Liberty Arena.
“Really pleased with our effort,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said. “I thought going into the game, we had a little bit of time to prep for UT Arlington. We kinda prepped on the front end before our non-(Division) 1 game. That was really important for us because they are explosive offensively and are a really good team. I thought our defense at the beginning gave them a little bit of doubt because they had been clicking offensively.”
The Mavericks featured their big man Lance Ware early and often. The 6’10” forward, who began his career at Kentucky before transferring to Villanova and now Arlington, got the ball in the paint nearly every possession to open the game but the Liberty interior defense did a good job contesting his shots as Ware made just 1 of his first 4 shots.
With Isaiah Ihnen missing his second consecutive game after suffering a knee injury last Saturday against North Carolina A&T, Coach McKay went to Curtis Blair as one of his early subs off the bench. The redsdhirt-freshman had the best game of his young career on Tuesday night against St. Andrews, posting his first career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“Curty has been practicing really well,” McKay said. “Curty is unafraid. I’m playing him a little bit out of position. He warrants some opportunities because of the way he has practiced. I like giving him some minutes. Defensively, he is strong and he’s improved. He doesn’t care about scoring even though he can score. I think he’s been a pretty good insertion.”
Liberty would push its lead out to 11 at 18-7 midway through the first half, but the visitors from Texas would go on an 11-1 spurt while holding the Flames without a field goal for over four minutes to cut their deficit to just one with eight minutes left in the first half.
After the under eight media timeout, the Flames responded with 15 straight points to seize control of the game. The run would extend to 20-4 to close the half with a 39-22 advantage.
Liberty held Arlington to 24% shooting in the first half and just 9% (1 of 11) from three. Meanwhile, the Flames shot 54% from the field and hit 8 of their 16 three-point attempts.
The Flames continued to break the energy on the defensive end out of the locker room, causing the Mavericks difficulty to find any rhythm as they began to get frustrated. Owen Aquino paced the way with his ability to protect the rim, sending two shots away in the opening minutes of the second half. Aquino didn’t score his first points until the 15:45 mark of the final half but the impact he had on the game was felt by all.
“Owen is a terrific player,” McKay said. “So many intricacies about what we do on the daily is way more important than the stat line. Owen’s been a little banged up and he hasn’t complained one bit. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do. I thought he was terrific defensively. Lance Ware is a terrific player.”
The Mavericks attempted to make a run to cut the margin, but the Flames would shut the door as Kaden Metheny knocked down back to back triples to keep the margin near 20.
McKay and UTA head coach K.T. Turner had to be separated near midcourt as the two exchanged words after a hard foul by Ware on Cleveland. It looked as though Ware hit Cleveland in the face as he tried to make a steal near midcourt. After a lengthy delay with the officials reviewing the play, Ware would be called for the flagrant foul while both team benches were whistled for a technical. Following the game, McKay waves to the UT Arlington bench and ushered his team off the floor as the two teams did not shake hands as normal.
“I thought one of their players hit Zach in the face,” said McKay. “I was asking the referees to review it. I think (Coach Turner) thought I was staring down his player, which,you guys have been around me enough, I’m not trying to incite anything. I think that got them frustrated. There was some chirping at the bench. It was really nothing. The referees felt like they had to adjudicate technical fouls, I get that. I think that’s my first in about nine years, I’m disappointed in a bench technical but I guess it was warranted.”
The margin would stay in double figures and at a comfortable spot for Liberty throughout the second half as the Flames picked up the win to conclude its non-conference schedule at 12-1.
Metheny led the Flames in scoring with 25 points as he made 7 of 13 three pointers. Taelon Peter got to 18 points, as he has had two very impressive scoring performances in a row, after scoring 30 on Tuesday night against St. Peters.
Zach Cleveland had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Owen Aquino had 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 blocks.
Liberty finished the game shooting 52.9% from the field and 15 of 32 (46.9%) from three.
Arlington finished the game shooting just 31.4% from the field and were only 2 of 20 from three.
Ware led the team in scoring with 15 points and also added 11 rebounds but he was just 6 of 15 from the field.
“You know you have a chance when you are sound defensively,” said McKay. “We were sound defensively against a really explosive offensive team. I thought it was a great win going into break. I was fairly pleased with our non-conference schedule and performance. I think we got better.”
The Flames now take nearly a two-week break for the Christmas holiday. Liberty will return to action after New Year’s to open conference play. The Flames will conclude their season-long seven-game homestand facing Western Kentucky on Thursday, Jan. 2 and then Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Jan. 4, both from Liberty Arena.
“I love this team,” McKay said. “It’s hard to describe. We are fun to watch, from a coaching vantage point. You really can’t predict what they are going to do, they just try to do what the defense gives them. That’s why you see the variation in leading scorers or guys having decent nights.”
