The Liberty Flames move to 12-0 on Saturday night with a 61-56 victory in Nashville over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Flames opened the game with its first five field goal attempts all coming from behind the arc, as Darius McGhee and Elijah Cuffee each knocked down a triple to give the Flames an early 6-5 lead going into the first media timeout.
Vanderbilt would respond with a 10-0 run to push their lead to 13-6 as the Flames continued to settle for three-pointers and struggle with early turnovers. Liberty had 5 turnovers in the first 9 minutes of game action and 8 of the team’s first 10 field goals were from behind the arc. Most of them were open looks, but Liberty was unable to get the bounce, falling behind 15-8 at the under 12 media timeout.
Caleb Homesley and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz would stop the early bleeding for the Flames with mid-range buckets in traffic as Liberty went into the under 8 timeout with a 17-12 deficit. At this point, Liberty was 3-of-4 from the field and just 2-of-10 from three point range.
The Flames would finally get hot, making 7 straight field goals to regain the lead, 25-21, going into the final media timeout of the first half at 3:13. Homesley quickly got to 10 points as he connected on 4-of-6 shots, bringing Liberty into the lead as the team settled down and found their rhythm.
The lead grew to 27-21 before Vanderbilt closed the half on an 11-0 run to take the 32-27 halftime lead, punctuated by a alley-oop to Saben Lee who slammed it home as time expired.
Liberty had 10 turnovers in the opening half and finished the first half shooting 43% from the field and 38% from three. Homesley led with 10 points while McGhee had 6. Scottie James had just 2 points but 10 rebounds in the opening half.
Vanderbilt would extend its run to 14-0 before the Flames responded with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 35 with 15:15 left in the game. Elijah Cuffee had four of Liberty’s points during the run. The Commodores would go over 8 minutes without a field goal as a Homesley running jumper would give the Flames the lead once again, 41-39 with 11:14 to play.
It would be over 10 minutes between field goals for the Commodores, but the Flames also struggled as they were unable to create any separation. Liberty led 43-41 with 7:44 left in the game.
Myo Baxter-Bell was quiet in the first half, but he picked it up down the stretch for the Flames. The redshirt-senior forward scored 6 straight for Liberty, as the Flames continued to maintain a one-point lead entering the final media timeout, 49-48 with 3:57 to play.
Both teams would exchange buckets, including a beautiful floater in the lane by Cuffee to put Liberty back on top, 51-50 with 3:05 to play as Coach McKay called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Flames got a stop on the defensive end and then Cuffee got another bucket to put the team up three. Scottie Pippen Jr. answered with a bucket to bring the Commodores back to within two points.
With Liberty leading by two, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz again game up clutch, as he has become accustomed to. Georgie’s jumper with 47 seconds to play put Liberty up four. The Flames closed out the game with a perfect mark at the free throw line, making six free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal the win.
Myo Baxter-Bell led the Flames with 18 points while also adding 5 rebounds in just 18 minutes. He was 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line as he carried the Flames in the second half.
Caleb Homesley finished with 14 points and Elijah Cuffee had 13 despite shooting just 1-of-5 from three. Darius McGhee didn’t score in the second half, finishing with 6 points but he also added 9 rebounds.
The Commodores were held to 35% shooting and 29% from three. Liberty won despite 13 turnovers, only 3 in the second half, and struggling from three-point range, making just 23% from behind the arc.
The Flames will return to action on Friday night in the DC Holiday Hoops Fest Tournament against Towson and then will play either Akron or Tulane on Saturday.
