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Liberty University
Jacksonville State
Liberty Defense Clamps Down on JSU, Flames Win 79-55
2/18/2023 9:45:23 PM | Men's Basketball
Liberty turned in a dominant effort on the defense end, holding host Jacksonville State to 28.6 percent shooting in a 79-55 Flames win, Saturday evening at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Flames held the Gamecocks to 16-of-56 from the field, their best defensive performance of the season against a Division I team and their second-best effort overall (held Regent to 19.6 percent shooting in season opener).
Liberty bolsters its overall record to 22-7 on the year and 13-3 in ASUN play. The Flames have now won 13 or more ASUN games three times and are 63-14 all-time (.818 winning percentage) in five seasons in the conference.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville State slips to 11-18 overall and 4-12 in league play following the loss on the Gamecocks’ Senior Night. JSU has officially been eliminated from being able to qualify for the 2023 ASUN Men’s Basketball Championship.
Liberty’s Darius McGhee led all scorers with 27 points, eclipsing the 2,500 point mark for his career. McGhee, the program’s all-time leading scorer, is up to 2,503 career points. The guard knocked down five three-pointers and has now totaled 498 career makes from long distance.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Darius McGhee 27 points, 7-13 FG, 5-10 3FG, 8-8 FT; Colin Porter 12 points, 4-7 FG, 4 rebounds, 3 assist; Joseph Venzant 10 points, 5-5 FG; Kyle Rode 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists; Blake Preston 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists.
Jacksonville State Individuals: Demaree King 9 points, 5 rebounds; Clarence “Monzy” Jackson 9 points, 2-4 3FG; Marcellus Brigham Jr. 8 points, 4-6 FG
Key Team Stats: Liberty shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) in the opening half to build a 20-point lead (45-25) and finished at 49.1 percent (28-of-57) for the evening. The Gamecocks struggled all night offensively, shooting 25.9 percent (7-of-27) in the second frame and 28.6 percent for the game. A balanced Liberty attack saw six players score at least seven points. Liberty held a decisive 43-28 edge in rebounds, with eight different players grabbing at least three boards. The Flames scored 15 points off 11 JSU turnovers, while JSU only tallied seven points off 10 Liberty miscues. Liberty never trailed in the game, leading for 39:10 (tied for 50 seconds). This is the ninth time this year that the Flames have never trailed in a game and sixth time it has happened in ASUN play.
Thoughts From Head Coach Ritchie McKay“I’m really proud of our guys’ response. I thought having lost a really tough game that we knew there was a lot of significance on it, I thought we were more intentional defensively. Darius McGhee gets going a little bit, and I think we did a good job of playing for the full 40 minutes.”
Turning PointLiberty took control of the game over the final 6:29 of the first half, turning a three-point edge (21-18) into a 45-25 halftime lead with an impressive 24-7 stretch. Darius McGhee caught fire with 14 points in the final 3:38 of the half, including back-to-back long threes on consecutive possessions (2:32 mark and 1:46 mark) for a 40-21 lead. McGhee knocked down his fifth and final triple of the half with 32 seconds on the clock, pushing the lead to 20 at 45-25.
Liberty also got valuable contributions from Kyle Rode and Colin Porter, who both hit three-pointers during the run, as well as baskets from Joseph Venzant and Zach Cleveland.
Key Stats & Notes• Liberty led by as many as 32. The Flames held a 70-38 advantage with 8:05 left following three free throws by Darius McGhee. McGhee’s first free throw in that sequence was his 2500th career point.
• McGhee scored 70 points (35.0 ppg) in two games this week, knocking down 13 threes.
• McGhee has 132 three-pointers through 29 games. He needs 11 more threes to break his own program record for threes in a single season. The Roxboro, N.C. native knocked down 142 triples in 33 games during the 2021-22 campaign.
• Blake Preston grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and in the process became the 18th player in program history with 500 or more career rebounds, Preston entered the night five rebounds shy of 500 and moved from 20th to 17th all-time in program history.
• Joseph Venzant scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting, reaching double figures for third time on the season. In those three games, Venzant is a perfect 14-of-14 (100 percent) from the floor.
• All 13 Flames wins in conference play have been by double digits.
• Liberty held an opponent to 55 points or less for a 13th time this year.
• Liberty is 6-1 in games following a loss this season.
• Saturday night marked the Flames’ first visit to Jacksonville State. Liberty takes a 2-1 lead in the all-time series.
Up Next
The Flames will play their final regular season road contest on Wednesday evening at Queens (17-12, 7-9 ASUN). Tip time is 7 p.m. from Curry Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Two days later on Friday, the Flames will host the Royals at Liberty Arena for Senior Night in what will be the ASUN regular season finale.
This will be the first meeting in ASUN play between the two squads. The only other meeting between the two teams was a 90-42 Flames win over the Royals on Jan. 16, 1984 in Lynchburg.
Main Photo at Top of Story: No. 23 Joseph Venzant
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