The Liberty Flames won a share of the ASUN regular season championship in the first year as a member of the conference, thanks to a 57-51 win Friday night at NJIT. With the win, the Flames move to 25-6 overall and 14-2 in ASUN play to conclude the regular season.
First Half
The Flames opened the game with incredible focus, taking an early 8-2 lead thanks to 6 points from Scottie James and tough defense against the Highlanders. The lead continued to grow out of the first media timeout, as Lovell Cabbil scored 4 straight points for the Flames to put Liberty up 12-2.
NJIT would respond though with 4 straight points and then kept pace as both teams went into the under 12 media timeout after exchanging buckets with the Flames leading 14-8. Scottie James was incredibly active in the opening minutes, with 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist before Cabbil scored 6 straight points for Liberty.
The Highlanders went on a 7-0 run to cut the Liberty lead to 2 at 14-12 before Darius McGhee would end the run with a 3 pointer from the top of the key. The teams would go back and forth over the next several minutes, with Liberty clinging to the lead, 21-17, at the final media timeout of the first half.
The Flames had to fight foul trouble down the stretch of the first half with Caleb Homesley and Scottie James picked up 2 fouls while Myo Baxter-Bell picked up 3 fouls in the first half. A couple of those calls were certainly questionable. The foul trouble forced McKay to go to Brendan Newton for the closing few minutes of the first half.
The 7’2″ Newton played well, with a couple of solid defensive possessions and he held his own on offense as Liberty went into the locker room with a 24-22 lead. Elijah Cuffee had a huge corner three in the final 30 seconds to put the Flames back on top.
Sophomore guard Zach Cooks entered the game 3rd in the ASUN in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game, but he doesn’t like being guarded by Lovell Cabbil. Cabbil shut Cooks down in the first meeting back in Lynchburg as he finished with just 3 points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field. He continued his cold shooting against Liberty in the rematch, as he opened 1-of-6 from the field with 2 points. His only bucket came in transition as he got out ahead of the Liberty defense.
Second Half
Liberty opened the 2nd half on a 5-0 run to push the lead to 29-22 before NJIT came back with 5 straight of their own. After struggling through the first 65+ minutes of game time against Liberty, Cooks had a nice offensive possession where he drew 2 fouls and then buried a 3-pointer.
Abdul Lewis and Scottie James continued to exchange buckets in the paint throughout the evening. James, who will likely be a first-teamer, and Lewis, who will make either the first or second team, traded blows time and after time. This combo would finish the night with a combined 44 points and 20 rebounds.
Cuffee would connect from 3 and then Darius McGhee would make 3 straight free throws after getting fouled shooting from deep, as Liberty pushed its lead to 8 with just under 10 minutes to play. Caleb Homesley would cap the 8-0 run with a pull-up near the free throw line to push the lead to 10.
The Highlanders responded with a run of their own to get as close as 2 at 48-46. Following a Liberty turnover, NJIT had a chance to tie or take the lead with just over 4 minutes left in the game, but they were unable to do so as they turned it over.
On the ensuing possession, Caleb Homesley connected on a huge 3-pointer from the corner to give the Flames a 5 point lead with 4 minutes to play. Caleb was struggling before that shot, as he had just 4 points and was 2-for-9 from the field before that bucket. Cabbil would score the next 4 Liberty points as the senior guard was feeling the regular season crown within his grasp.
With Liberty leading by 4 and time running out, Zach Cooks missed a three pointer, NJIT’s final chance to attempt a last second comeback. Scottie James secured the rebound, was fouled with 17 seconds left, and made both of his free throws the final margin of 57-51.
Stat Check
Liberty set a new school record with 10 true road wins.
Scottie James notched his 10th double-double of the season, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting in just 24 minutes while being plagued with foul trouble all night.
Cabbil also reached double figures, finishing with 15 points and 5 rebounds.
Caleb Homesley’s streak of 13 straight double figure scoring games came to an end. This streak also included 15 out of 16 and 19 out of the past 23 games.
Contrary to most of the season, the Flames did not get much production from the bench. Darius McGhee was the only bench player to score, as he had 6 point. Keegan McDowell didn’t play. Keenan Gumbs only played 12 minutes while Myo Baxter-Bell struggled with foul trouble all night before eventually fouling out. Brendan Newton did have 3 solid minutes of defense at the end of the first half with Liberty’s foul trouble mounting.
Cooks had a rough season against Liberty, he played all 40 minutes in this contest, finishing the game 2-for-12 from the field with 5 points. In two games against the Flames, Cooks had just 8 points on 3-of-22 shooting as he was blanketed by ASUN Defensive Player of the Year nominee Lovell Cabbil.
The Flames held NJIT to 36% shooting from the floor and 11.8% from 3 as they connected on just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Lipscomb Watch
The Bisons defeated North Alabama, 87-75, to claim a share of the regular season title. Lipscomb wins the tie breaker and earns the #1 seed in next week’s ASUN Tournament. If both LUs advance to the championship game, the game will be played in Nashville.
What’s Next?
ASUN Tournament play begins Monday night with 4 quarterfinal games. The Flames will host 7-seed Jacksonville with the winner set to face the winner of 3-seed North Florida and 6-seed North Alabama. The other side of the bracket pits 1-seed Lipscomb hosting 8-seed Kennesaw State and 4-seed FGCU hosting 5-seed NJIT. All games tip at 7pm local time and will be streamed on ESPN+. The semifinals are on Thursday night and the championship game is Sunday afternoon.
