The Flames dropped a hard-fought battle to William & Mary, 79-70. Here’s our rapid reactions:

  1. The game was decided with William & Mary’s size differential and ability to win the game around the paint. The Tribe dominated the glass, 2nd chance points, free throws, and points in the paint. William & Mary out-rebounded Liberty 43-25, attempted 17 more free throws, out-scored the Flames in 2nd chance points 12-0, and had 28 points in the paint to Liberty’s 18.
  2. The Flames were down by as much as 10 with about 10 minutes to play, but the young squad would not go away. Liberty clawed their way back to a tie game near the 3 minute mark before the Tribe outlasted the Flames down the stretch.
  3. 4 Flames paced the way scoring with John Dawson, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, Caleb Homesley, and Ryan Kemrite all reaching double figures. Dawson fouled out in the final minutes, but led Liberty with 15 points and 7 assists.
  4. Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz had the best game of his 6-game career. The true freshman had 13 points on just 6 field goal attempts. He also had 4 rebounds and just 1 turnover in 36 minutes played.
  5. The Tribe went on an 8-0 run near the end of the first half after Liberty led the entire way in the first stanza. The Flames, did tie the game late, but never retook the lead. Coach McKay’s squad showed tremendous resilience, never going away after trailing by as many as 10 points.
  6. Caleb Homesley battled first half foul trouble which limited him to just 25 minutes on the evening. He had a good 2nd half, finishing with 12 points including the game-tying bucket in the final minutes. He does need to improve as a free throw shooter, Caleb was just 4/8 from the charity stripe and is shooting less than 50% on the year.
  7. We got our first look at McKay’s early season rotation as he shortened his bench to just 7 total guys playing double figure minutes. The starters were Pacheco-Ortiz, Dawson, Kemrite, Homesley, and Baxter-Bell. A.C. Reid and Ezra Talbert reached double figures in minutes played as well.
  8. The Flames had their best defensive performance of the season, holding William & Mary to 41% shooting. The additional 17 free throws they attempted were enough to overcome this disadvantage though.
  9. For the 2nd straight game, Lovell Cabbil was on the bench in the street clothes and did not play. Cabbil is suffering from an injury he suffered on Monday night against UMass Lowell when his head hit the court very hard as he fell to the floor.
  10. Liberty returns to action on Tuesday back in the Vines Center. The Flames play host to Central Penn at 7pm.