Liberty (16-7, 7-1) picked up a nice win over Bellarmine (13-10, 7-2) on an icy afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky. The Flames would outlast the Knights, 66-53.
“Really proud of our team,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “That’s a hard place to win. A really physical game from start to finish. You had the usual ebb and flow of a Bellarmine game. They will get behind, but they are so tough. I have so much respect for them. They always come back.”
The Flames got off to a strong start early, racing out to a 13-3 lead in the opening minutes. Bellarmine answered with a 19-3 run to grab its first lead of the game and push its lead to six entering the final minute of the first half. Liberty would answer with the final six points of the opening stanza, highlighted by a Darius McGhee 35-foot three pointer at the buzzer to tie the game.
“We were waning a little bit late in the first half, but Kyle got an and-1 and Darius hit a three to cut that six point deficit to even,” McKay stated. “I thought that was a very important stretch.”
That was part of a 13-0 run for the Flames to end the first half that extended into the beginning of the second half. McGhee and Kyle Rode combined for the first 11 points in that run. The Flames would keep the Knights at bay the rest of the way to pick up the key road victory.
Shiloh Robinson recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kyle Rode chipped in 14 points and 9 rebounds while Darius McGhee and Keegan McDowell each scored 13 points.
Liberty will now make the 100 mile trek across Kentucky from Louisville to Richmond to take on Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night at 7 pm on ESPN+ in the Flames’ third and final game on this extended road trip. The Colonels are currently 10-12 overall and 2-6 in ASUN play entering their game against Kennesaw State on Thursday evening.
Here are our three main takeaways from today’s game:
SHILOH ROBINSON WITH HIS FIRST CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLE
We’ve talked about it repeatedly throughout much of the season, particularly in conference play, but Shiloh Robinson continues to push his game to the next level. He scored a game-high 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting to go along with a career-high 12 rebounds. And that doesn’t mention the job he did on the defensive end of the floor on Bellarmine’s top player Dylan Penn. Penn was held to 10 points on just 5 of 13 shooting from the field.
It wasn’t long ago that McKay compared Darius McGhee to Steph Curry. Following the win over Bellarmine, he gave some love to Shiloh, comparing him to one of his former players that had a long career in the NBA.
“This guy reminds me, we had a kid when I was at New Mexico, Danny Granger, who played in the league for, I think, 13 years and was a first round draft choice,” McKay said of Robinson. “Now, I’m not saying he’s a first round draft choice yet, but, man, his trajectory is ridiculous. I know Darius gets all the love, all the shine, but he’s having an all-conference year.”
FLAMES GET IT DONE ON THE DEFENSIVE END
Last year against Bellarmine, the two teams put on an offensive clinic, with Liberty winning that game, 94-78, for the ASUN Regular Season title. This year, the game was a defensive slug fest with Liberty getting the upper hand. The Flames held Bellarmine to 35.1% from the field and just 5 of 22 (22.7%) from three. The Knights scored just three points in the first nine minutes of game action as the Flames set the tone defensively from the opening tip.
“We always want to take care of business,” said McKay of his team’s defensive pursuits. “I think we’re returning to form from the pause. I thought our defensive intentionality, it was really, really sound, and Bellarmine is good defensively. I thought it was a defensive struggle that we outlasted them a little bit.”
LIBERTY WINS DESPITE MCGHEE’S OFF NIGHT
In that game against the Knights last season, Darius McGhee went off for a then career-high 34 points. It wasn’t his day on Thursday as he finished with just 13 points as he shot 4 of 13 from the field and 3 of 9 from three. He did record a team-high 5 assists and grabbed 3 rebounds. Despite McGhee’s struggles, the Flames were still able to pick up the big win with contributions from several.
McKay opted to lean on his starters more than he has at any point this season. All five starters played over 30 minutes in the game with Shiloh Robinson leading the team with 37 minutes.
