Liberty Men’s Basketball Takes East Division

Liberty’s men’s basketball closed out its regular season by holding off Kennesaw State’s impressive 3-point shooting performance to secure a 100-93 overtime victory Feb. 26 in the highest scoring game in Liberty Arena history.

Home to the Flames since the 2020 season, the sold-out Liberty Arena experienced an electric offensive performance in the second half and overtime. Leading the charge was senior guard and last year’s ASUN All-Conference Player of the Year Darius McGhee.

McGhee entered his last regular season game as a Flame leading the nation in 3-pointers made (132) and attempted (329). He also leads DI  basketball in total points (718) for the 2021-22 season.

“He is one of the best players, if not the best player to ever put on a Liberty jersey — not just because of the way he plays, but how he conducts himself,” Head Coach Ritchie McKay said. 

Scoring 37 of his Liberty-Arena-record-breaking 47 points in the second half and overtime, McGhee and the rest of the Flames struggled to find their footing in the first half.

Kennesaw State came out firing, taking an early 9-0 lead within only three minutes of the tipoff. The Owls would not relinquish their lead for the rest of the half, scoring 18 of their 42 points on 3-pointers.

Fighting for every shot, the Flames steadily climbed their way back into the game. With McGhee struggling to create offense in the first half, junior forward Kyle Rode and the Liberty bench stepped up to cut Kennesaw State’s lead to 42-37 going into the second half.

In the first half , Rode went 5-5 from the free-throw line, and the bench went 6-6, setting up what became a clutch free throw shooting game for the Flames.

Seeking their 21st win on the season, the Flames came into the second half determined not to fold under Kennesaw State’s impressive 3-point shooting.

Rode and redshirt-senior guard Keegan McDowell started the scoring for the Flames, and McGhee floated a couple layups to tie it at 47. Liberty capitalized on turnovers by the Owls to take its first lead of the game 51-50 with 14:23 left in regulation.

Dominating the paint, Rode scored nine points for the Flames to keep them in the lead amid Kennesaw State’s relentless offense.

With only one minute left in the game, the Flames trailed 77-73, but McGhee put in some clutch offensive play. He notched two free-throw attempts to bring the score within two and had a chance to tie the game at 77 but missed the layup, resulting in a Kennesaw State timeout. With only four seconds remaining, freshman guard Joseph Venzant intercepted the toss-in to give McGhee another shot at tying the game. 

“(Venzant’s) as good defensively as I’ve seen as freshman in the pack, and he made some big plays,” McKay said.

McGhee was fouled on a layup and after slowly getting to his feet, sunk the tying free throws to send the game to overtime. The senior guard finished the day 16-18 from the free-throw line, and the team finished 37-44.

“It was a matter of competing on both ends of the floor,” McGhee said when asked about his impressive performance. “We needed stops, and we knew we also needed great shots on the other end.”

The victorious Flames will enter the ASUN Conference Championship 21-10 and ranked No. 1 in the East Division. The Flames earned a first-round bye and will host the quarterfinal game at Liberty Arena March 3 at 7 p.m. 

Shealy is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter