The Liberty Flames led throughout and coasted to a 61-46 win over Florida Gulf Coast Saturday night. The win helped set a program record with 17 consecutive wins at home dating back to January 29, 2019. The previous record of 16 straight home wins was set in 1983-84.
The Flames improve to 21-3 this season and 7-2 in the ASUN Conference while FGCU drops to 7-17 overall and 4-5 in conference.
For the second consecutive game, Liberty used a long scoreless drought by the visitor to stretch open the lead. On Saturday, the Eagles went over 6 minutes without a point as the Flames went on an 8-0 run to push its lead to 17-8.
FGCU scored just 14 points in the first half, the fifth time this season Liberty has held an opponent under 15 points in a half.
Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz was the spark plug on offense for Liberty. He scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, as he did not miss a shot in the opening 20 minutes. He finished 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from three point range, which included two threes in the first half as the shot clock expired.
Liberty forced 16 Florida Gulf Coast turnovers and turned those into 20 points while the Eagles did not score a single point off the Flames’ 12 turnovers.
This was the 12th time Liberty has held an opponent under 50 points this season, as FGCU’s 46 points is tied for the fewest points the Eagles have scored in a game this season, as they also scored 46 points in the first matchup against Liberty on Jan. 2.
Scottie James scored 10 points as he passed Ryan Kemrite for 20th on Liberty’s all-time scoring list with 1,212 career points.
Caleb Homesley stuffed the box score with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and a career-high 5 steals.
Kyle Rode scored 5 points as the true freshman ended a six game stretch where he was held scoreless four times and scored 2 points on two other occasions. He made both of his field goal attempts, including one from three point range, his first made three pointer since January 4th at NJIT.
For the second straight game, Liberty shot over 50% from the field, finishing 55.6% while also making 7-of-19 from behind the arc.
In the two game homestand against Kennesaw State and FGCU, Liberty did not trail one time.
The Flames remain in a first place tie in the ASUN standings with North Florida at 7-2. Stetson is just one game behind at 6-3.
Liberty will begin next week’s two-game roadtrip in Florida to take on Jacksonville. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, and can be seen on ESPN+.
