Heating up: Flames defeat Sam Houston Bearkats 82-66 to move to 2-3 in the CUSA

The Liberty Flames men’s basketball team defended their home court Saturday night, defeating the Sam Houston Bearkats 82-66 in brilliant fashion. The Bearkats entered Saturday’s matchup as one of the hottest teams in the CUSA and 3-0 in conference play, while the Flames entered 1-3 in conference play after three close losses.

Forward Zach Cleveland ended the matchup against SHSU with 14 points. Photo by Noah Seidlitz.
“Sam Houston does a really good job in their schemes, and there’s a reason they’re 3-0,” Flames Head Coach Ritchie McKay said postgame. “(Head Coach Chris Mudge) has done a terrific job with his group. They got them playing really well. You can tell the talent in this league is evident.”
Comfortable was the word used in the press conference postgame to describe the evening’s win, but it took an almost perfect beginning of this game from the Flames to claim said comfort. Liberty struck first, opening all scoring with a three from senior forward Kyle Rode that hit nothing but nylon. Junior guard Kaden Metheny and the rest of the Flames followed Rode’s example and the team took a commanding lead.
After opening the game 4-5 from the field and 3-4 from beyond the arc the Flames hit a cold stretch and the Bearkats brought it within 5 with 10:16 left in the first half. The Flames were able to “counterpunch,” as Coach McKay called it, with an impressive bucket in the post from redshirt freshman Ben Southerland.
The scoring for both units ramped up as the first came to a close, but the Flames were able to maintain their advantage and head into the break ahead 41-33.
The Flames’ eight-point lead at the half wound up being the closest the Bearkats would be to a lead for the rest of the game, as consistent pressure from the Flames’ defense and a poor shooting night for Sam Houston led to a rather one-sided showing.
The bright spots for the Kats were the junior guard pairing Davon Barnes and Lamar Wilkerson who combined for 42 of the team’s 66 points.

Forward Kyle Rode, who his teammates call “Cap”, is the leader of this Flames team on and off the court. Photo by Noah Seidlitz.
The Flames had four of their five starters end the evening with double digits in the points column. Rode, sophomores Zach Cleveland and Colin Porter, and Metheny ended with 19, 14, 12 and 17 points respectively for a total of 62 points. Porter, also had nine rebounds and eight assists, making him just two assists and a board shy of a triple-double, and he did so while turning the ball over just once.
“Nine rebounds is pretty significant, and we needed them all,” McKay said. “… The way we’re built now is to try and capitalize on the different things that we do well. And when you can stay in your offensive strengths, and Colin Porter is one of those offensive strengths, you usually have a better chance of getting a terrific shot.”
Porter, as he tends to do, deflected the credit for his stellar night to his teammates who created those opportunities for him.
“Rebounds and assists have to happen with (help from) my teammates,” Porter said. “Like, they got to make the shots and they’re getting me in actions before I even make that pass. So there’s a lot of things that go into it, and then on the defensive side of it, they’re boxing out like they’re beating and banging. And it’s easier for us guards to come in and grab it whenever they’re doing all the dirty work. So it’s all props to my teammates and the unselfishness and just selflessness that we have within one another.”

Porter in his second season with the Flames is averaging a team high in both minutes (31.1 mpg) and assists (4.1 apg). Photo by Noah Seidlitz
After defeating the Bearkats the Flames are 2-3 in conference play and 13-7 overall. Their next outing will be on the home court of Jacksonville State Gamecocks who are 2-2 in conference play. Liberty faced off recently against the Gamecocks on the Flame’s home court and were defeated 61-51 after a rather poor shooting night.
Palsgrove is the asst. sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X.