Liberty falls to UMBC in the quarterfinals of the CIT, 80-68. Here’s our rapid reactions:

  1. With the loss, the Flames season comes to an end. Liberty concludes the season at 21-14 on the year.
  2. After a back and forth affair for the majority of the first half, the Retrievers seized control of the game late in the first half, going into intermission with a 10 point lead. UMBC would stretch their lead to as much as 17 points early in the 2nd half and withstood a late Liberty surge to move on to the tournament’s semifinals.
  3. After trailing by 17, Liberty did not go away easily. The Flames cut the lead to single digits thanks to a stretch of 8 consecutive made field goals. Coach McKay’s squad would cut it to 3 points on 2 separate occasions, but could not get any closer. UMBC finished the game on a 15-7 run.
  4. Liberty ends the season with a 21-14 record, the most wins since the 2008-09 season. At the conclusion of the regular season, Liberty posted a school-record 14 Big South wins. The loss brings to a close the playing careers of seniors Ray Chen and John Dawson.
  5. True freshman guard Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz had one of his most productive offensive game, leading the team with 23 points on 7/11 shooting. He was a perfect 3/3 from 3 and 6/6 from the free throw line. He added 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
  6. After placing 5 in double figures in the 2nd round win over Samford, just 2 Flames reached double figures against UMBC. In addition to Georgie, Myo Baxter-Bell also reached double figures finishing the game with 13.
  7. Lovell Cabbil and Ryan Kemrite, who had been pacing the team for much of the past several games, struggled with their shot much of the afternoon. The pair combined to shoot 4/15 from the floor and 11 points.
  8. The Flames gave up 80 points in a game for the first time in the last 6 games and just 5th time all season.
  9. The Retrievers were paced by 5 scorers who reached double figures led by Jairus Lyles who had 20.
  10. The semifinals of the CIT consists of UMBC who will face Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Furman who faces Saint Peters.

We’ll have much more on this team as we wrap the season up in the coming days!