Liberty suffered its first defeat of the season, falling to FAU, 77-74, in overtime on Saturday night in Charleston, South Carolina to open play in the Field of 68 Tip-Off.

“I think you saw two good teams, I think we’re one of them,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “I have a lot of respect for Coach Jakus, their staff. They really have a fabulous team. Their scheme is really hard to defend. Proud of our guys’ effort. Obviously we would rather learn in victory than you would defeat, but I think it’s a good test for us to get a little bit of a gauge to where we are. We had some opportunities, ran out of gas a little bit.”

Kaden Metheny, who hit the game winner at Seattle one week ago, got a clean look from the top of the key at the end of regulation that would have won the game and another decent look from the left wing at the end of overtime that would have tied it, but he missed both.

Metheny did lead the Flames in scoring with 19 points as he made 4 of 12 from three. He did a lot of his damage in the opening minutes of the contest, scoring 12 points by the second media timeout and 15 in the first half. His hot shooting helped push Liberty to the lead, leading by as many as 12.

The Owls, coming off a double overtime loss to Charleston Friday night to open this event, did not go down without a fight. They clawed back and even took the lead on occasion, ultimately pulling out the tough victory in overtime.

Owen Aquino added 14 points and 8 rebounds and had a big impact on the game in the closing minutes. Zach Cleveland had 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Taelon Peter had 13 points and made 3 of 6 from three to round out Liberty’s double figure scorers.

Liberty shot 10 of 34 from three for 29% and made 12 of 21 from the free throw line for 57%.

The Flames conclude their stay in Charleston by taking on host College of Charleston on Sunday at 4 p.m.

COLD STREAK HAUNTS FLAMES

Liberty went nearly 9 minutes of the 2nd half without making a field goal and only scored 1 point during that stretch. The Flames went from leading by 5 to being down 2 during that stretch.

Cleveland hit a bucket with 11:58 left in regulation to put the Flames up, 57-52. Liberty then went an extended stretch with 10 missed field goals, four turnovers, and making just 1 of 4 free throws. The drought ended with an Aquino bucket with 3:05 left in regulation. It’s difficult to win games against good teams with lengthy stretches like that.

“That’s part of the game,” McKay said of the cold streak. “We don’t judge the quality of our shot by whether it goes in or not. I feel confident in the guys we have, the way they execute and were trying to accomplish on that end of the floor. The shots went in at Seattle U and we were victorious. They didn’t tonight and we were defeated, that’s the game of basketball.”

LU HAD LOOKS TO WIN OR EXTEND GAME

At the end of regulation, the game was tied at 67 with 19 seconds remaining. The Flames got a great look for Kaden Metheny at the top of the key where his shot with four seconds left could have lifted Liberty to a huge win. The shot bounced off the left of the rim as time ran out, sending the game into overtime.

In the extra period, Liberty trailed by one with possession and less than a minute to play. The Flames had to settle for a Cleveland three on the wing as the shot clock ran down. He missed and FAU got the rebound with 30 seconds remaining. The Flames then had to foul and the Owls would make both free throws to take a 3 point lead with 19 seconds.

Cleveland would then lose the ball out of bounds as he drove the baseline, but Isaiah Ihnen made a terrific play on the FAU inbounds play to throw the ball off an Owls player so Liberty could regain possession with 8 seconds left.

This set up Metheny who had a tough look from the left wing with four seconds left on the clock that missed.

“I felt like we got decent looks all night,” McKay said. “We had 26 baskets on 17 assists. I felt like we could have had more. Turned it over a little bit too much in the second half and overtime. When you play quality teams on a neutral floor, it’s a great prelude to what conference tournament or postseason tournament is like. I feel like those 45 minutes will be a really healthy learning opportunity for us.”

OUTCOME SHOWS PROGRESS

It wasn’t the outcome Liberty wanted, but it’s a long season and the odds are there is only one path to the NCAA Tournament and that’s through the CUSA auto-bid. This season is all about building towards that week in March.

Last year, in this same event, Liberty lost by 25 points to FAU and were outsized and bullied in the loss. It was the beginning of things to come in conference play where the Flames could not string together enough wins and ended with a losing records in conference play before being ousted in the CUSA Tournament Quarterfinals.

It’s just one game and still very early in this season, but this outcome, a close loss in overtime where the team had a chance to send the game to overtime at the buzzer, shows growth hoped for in this team. Through the first two weeks of the season, it does look like Liberty has the tools needed to compete in CUSA, what is shaping up to be a very competitive league. Sunday afternoon with a road contest at Charleston will be another great opportunity to test this team.

“I think we have a really good team,” said McKay. “I love our group. We love representing our university. I feel like we do it in a way where we are competing to give our very best. That doesn’t mean we are always going to win. I certainly see growth from a year ago. Our team is going to keep getting better. I really believe this is a group that will be better in January and February than we are now. That is a shared responsibility, coaches and players. We have to make sure we don’t get interference with not getting what we want when we want it. The character in our room, we will pursue that.”