Behind 33 points from Taelon Peter, Liberty (24-6, 12-5 CUSA) defeated Middle Tennessee (20-10, 11-6), 86-81, on Thursday night in a crucial late season game in the Conference USA race.
“A hard fought game,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay following the game. “I talked to (MTSU) coach McDevitt before the game. It’s every coach’s comment when you talk to them before or after the game, how hard this league is. If you’re not a college basketball fan and you don’t follow closely, to have the 8th ranked league in the country, you know every night is going to be a battle. It will really prepare whoever is fortunate enough to advance to the NCAA Tournament because you would have gone through a grind of a schedule.”
Peter’s 33 points were the highlight as the Flames played a second consecutive game where both teams scored over 80 points, marking the two highest scoring games Liberty has played in this season. Peter tied his career high in scoring that he set previously this season against Louisiana Tech. On Thursday night against Middle Tennessee, the Liberty guard made 11 of 14 field goals and 3 of 6 from three while also making all eight of his free throws to go along with 6 rebounds.
“Taelon can do that,” said McKay. “He’s had a couple of games of late where he wasn’t as aggressive because of his selflessness. When he’s on the floor, he’s an offensive engine. He can make shots at all the levels. Our guys do a great job of recognizing who has a hot hand. It’s our character. It’s something that we usually try and take advantage of. We did so tonight.”
Liberty was able to overcome a career night from MTSU big man Essam Mostafa. He had a career high in both points and rebounds with 30 points and 20 rebounds. He nearly fouled out all of Liberty’s top players himself. Zander Yates and Jayvon Maughmer both fouled out while Owen Aquino, Zach Cleveland, and Colin Porter all finished the night with four personal fouls.
“Between us, we had 13 fouls from the front line,” said McKay. “He’s a hard guard as it is. The way the game was being called, these are SEC officials, so they are good at their job. It was physical. Our guys adjusted. I did think down the stretch we executed some of what we wanted to do. Gotta tip our hat to Mostafa because he was lights out tonight.”
Liberty led for over 33 minutes of the game, leading by as many as 9. The Blue Raiders cut their deficit to three with 6:41 to play, but the Flames went on a 7-2 run to push its lead to eight once again. MTSU cut it to four and then three on made three-pointers in the final two minutes, but Colin Porter and Taelon Porter closed the door as they made all six of their free throw attempts in the final minute.
The two teams were whistled for 48 fouls in the game including technical fouls handed out to Liberty’s Owen Aquino and MTSU’s Justin Bufford. Those fouls led to 46 total free throws attempted.
Zach Cleveland finished with 16 points, the most he has scored since scoring 17 in Liberty’s loss at Jacksonville State on February 1. He was 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free throw line and also had 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
Owen Aquino added 12 points and 7 rebounds while Kaden Metheny finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds. The Flames had their best shooting day from the free throw line, making 18 of 20 from the line for 90%. Liberty also shot 54.5% from the field for the game and made 8 of 24 three-point attempts.
With the win, Liberty clinches a top two spot in next week’s CUSA Tournament, meaning the Flames will play on Wednesday night in the Quarterfinals against a team that plays in the first round on Tuesday night. The Flames will conclude the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Western Kentucky. With a win Saturday, the Flames will clinch the CUSA regular season title and also the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. The Hilltoppers are currently 17-13 on the season and 8-9 in conference play following their 76-67 win over FIU on Thursday. WKU is looking to sweep the season series against Liberty after overcoming a 16-point deficit against the Flames on January 2 to open conference with a 71-70 win at Liberty Arena.
