Liberty moves into first place in the ASUN following its 82-77 win over North Florida on Thursday night. With the win, the Flames improve to 11-2 in ASUN play and the Ospreys fall to 11-3.
It was an ASUN first place showdown in Lynchburg and the Liberty fans showed up in strong support of their team, with an announced attendance of 5,613. The crowd, the third largest in the Vines Center this season, was loud and engaged throughout the game.
All week Liberty called for a Red Out in the stands, but it was the Flames who were scorching red hot from the field. On one stretch in the first half, Liberty made 10 consecutive field goals as the Flames made easy work out of the North Florida 1-3-1 zone. Liberty shot 62% from the field in the first half.
The Flames kept finding the soft spots in the zone, with Homesley playing at the high post he was able to get open and also find Scottie James on the block. Liberty scored 30 points in the paint in the first half, primarily off the zone.
The Ospreys, the best three-point shooting team in the country, were able to hang close by making 7-of-23 from three-point range while Liberty had just 2 makes on 6 three-pointers in the first half.
Liberty led for the majority of the first half, by as many as 10. Homesley led the team with 13 first half points as he surpassed Lovell Cabbil for 12th on Liberty’s all-time scoring list. Scottie James also added 10 first half points while Darius McGhee added 9.
Early in the second half, it was the Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz show as he scored 11 points and helped Liberty maintain its lead right around 10 points.
The Flames were able to maintain the lead despite going over 8 minutes without a field goal, a streak that was snapped by a Scottie James bucket with 2:33 left in the game. During that stretch, Liberty made eight free throws and were 19/21 from the charity stripe entering the stretch run leading by 10.
The Flames would miss 6 straight from the free throw line after that point, and UNF was able to cut the Liberty lead to 3. Liberty would recover to make 5 of its final 6 free throws to seal the win.
Homesley led all scorers with 28 points including 11-of-15 from the charity stripe, career highs in both makes and attempts from the free throw line.
Scottie James had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Pacheco-Ortiz finished with 17 points and made all 8 of his free throws.
Liberty finished the game shooting 56.3% from the field and 72.7% from the free throw line while attempting 33 free throws compared to North Florida’s 6.
A quick turnaround for Liberty as the Flames play host to 3rd-place Stetson Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. for Senior Day.
