Liberty would overcome a brutally cold offensive start by both teams to defeat South Carolina State, 65-39, to move to 3-0 on the season. The 39 points the Bulldogs scored is the fewest Liberty has allowed against a Division I program in school history.
The Flames and Bulldogs combined to miss their first 12 field goal attempts with the first bucket coming at the 14:48 mark by South Carolina State’s Rayshawn Neal as Coach McKay called a timeout to voice his displeasure. Liberty’s first bucket came at the 13:24 mark when Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz hit a floater in the paint.
“We try and measure the quality of our offensive efficiency on the looks we get, and I thought we got some great looks we just didn’t make it,” Ritchie McKay said. “I think it snowballed a little bit, we kept looking up at the scoreboard, we’re missing point blank shots and wide open 3s. This team is too talented to beat itself on the offensive end, typically it’s going to take defense that has a plan for Scottie and other guys that can make field goals.”
The two teams continued to struggle as they missed 22-of-24 shots to open the game while combining for six turnovers as the game was tied at 2 as we entered the under 12 media timeout.
Liberty would respond to make 4-of-6 field goals including three pointers by Darius McGhee and Kyle Rode as the Flames stretch their lead to 12-6 thanks to Rode’s corner triple. Pacheco-Ortiz would then connect from deep for the first time this season, as he had missed his first 10 three point attempts. His first made triple pushed the Flames’ lead to 17-6.
The true freshman Rode was the lone bright spot for the Flames offensively in the first half. He led the team with 7 points on 3-of-4 shooting while also adding 4 rebounds. He was the primary spark for Liberty’s 13-2 run as they took a 24-10 lead entering the closing minutes of the first half.
The fewest points Liberty has ever allowed in a half is 13 points to Clarks Summit on December 16, 2016. It looked like that mark was going to be surpassed, but the Bulldogs’ Jahmari Etienne hit a buzzer-beating three pointer, their only made three-pointer of the first half, to give SCSU 13 points. Liberty led 24-13 at the break.
Liberty came out of the halftime break hot, using a 10-3 run to push the lead to 34-16. McGhee and Pacheco-Ortiz each had a triple during the run while Scottie James had two buckets. James finished the game with 8 points and 12 rebounds, 6 of them offensive.
Caleb Homesley would then take over offensively, scoring eight straight points as Liberty pushed its lead over 20 for the first time of the evening.
Through the first three games this season, Liberty’s primary rotation has consisted of eight with the three off the bench all forwards – Myo Baxter-Bell, Kyle Rode, and Shiloh Robinson. With Keegan McDowell’s transfer and Marten Maide recovering from knee surgery, Liberty’s depth at guard has been hindered.
Against the Bulldogs, McKay elected to go with walk-on guard Colton Reed for an extended run midway through the second half. Expect the Flames to continue to find spots for a guard to get some run and hopefully be able to provide additional depth as the season progresses.
Blake Preston had some quality minutes to close out the game. The redshirt-freshman from Charlotte Christian School scored his first career points and finished with 2 points and 2 rebounds in nearly 3 minutes of action.
“We were much better against South Carolina State than we were against UMES, but we were decent against Radford too,” said McKay. “In contrast to Sunday’s game, I thought we were connected and we played with a lot of energy and a lot of purpose. Getting those younger guys some minutes are important to our cause.”
South Carolina State finished the game shooting 14-of-52 (26.9%) from the field.
The Flames return to action on Saturday for the first road contest of the season as Liberty will travel to Greenville, North Carolina to take on the East Carolina Pirates.
