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Saturday, January 24
Lynchburg, Va.
1:00 PM ET
Liberty University
17-3,9-0CUSA
67
vs
51
Delaware
5-14,1-7CUSA
1
2
F
Delaware
28
23
51
Liberty
34
33
67
Flames Stifle Blue Hens, Prevail 67-51 For 11th Consecutive Win
1/24/2026 4:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty defense stifled Delaware on Saturday afternoon, leading to a 67-51 Flames home win over the Fightin' Blue Hens at Liberty Arena. The Flames forced 16 turnovers and received a game-high 25 points from Brett Decker Jr. to pick up their 11th consecutive win overall.
Liberty moves to 17-3 on the season and a perfect 9-0 in Conference USA following its 11th straight home victory to start the year. The Flames are a perfect 5-0 in league home matchups as well. Delaware slips to 5-14 overall and 1-7 in league play and sees its losing streak extended to five games. The Blue Hens (1-6 road, 0-3 CUSA road) are still in search of their first CUSA road triumph.
The Flames' 16 forced turnovers this afternoon matched a season high, set previously at Sam Houston on Jan. 10. Liberty held Delaware to 51 points, the Flames' third fewest points surrendered in a game this year.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Brett Decker Jr. 25 points, 8-16 FG, 6-12 3FG, 4 rebounds; JJ Harper 10 points, 4-8 FT, 3 rebounds, 2 steals; Kaden Metheny 9 points, 4 assists; Colin Porter 8 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds; Josh Smith 8 points, 4-4 FG, 4 rebounds; Zach Cleveland 6 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
Delaware Individuals: Christian Bliss 17 points, 5-8 FG, 5-6 FT, 6 rebounds; Justyn Fernandez 16 points, 6-15 FG, 5 rebounds, 8 turnovers
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the afternoon shooting 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the field and 36.7 percent (11-of-30 from three-point territory. Delaware shot 46.3 percent (19-of-41) for the game but did so on only 41 attempts due to the Flames' defense forcing 16 miscues. The Flames have outshot 17 of their 20 opponents this year, going 17-0 in those matchups Liberty only turned the ball over six times, and the Flames led in points off turnovers, 11-7. The Flames held a 28-27 edge in rebounding while holding the Blue Hens to a single offensive rebound. Liberty's one offensive rebound yielded was a season best. Liberty assisted on 21 of its 24 field goals, its third CUSA game this year with 20 or more assists. Delaware notched only six assists on its 19 makes. The Flames also led in points in the paint (26-24) and bench points (11-3). Liberty led for just over 80 percent of the game (32:07 of 40 minutes), while the Blue Hens led for 6:43. The Flames tallied 10 steals tonight, marking the first time this season they have notched 10 steals in back-to-back games.
Turning Point
Liberty took a 34-28 lead into the half before scoring 14 of the first 20 points to open up a 14-point advantage, 48-34, with 9:40 left. After the Blue Hens' Justyn Fernandez scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half, the Liberty defense held the senior without a field goal (0-of-6) and just two points the rest of the way. The Flames' Josh Smith had back-to-back finishes around the hoop, one a dunk and one a lay-in, for the 48-34 lead with under 10 to play. Delaware drew within 10, 52-42, at the 7:02 mark following a Christian Bliss three-pointer, but an 8-0 Liberty run over the next two-plus minutes put the game in hand for the hosts. During that spurt, Josh Smith had a dunk, and Brett Decker Jr. drilled his sixth and final three of the contest as well as three free throws.
Key Stats & Notes
Up Next
Liberty will return to action on Thursday night at Middle Tennessee (11-8, 5-3 CUSA), Thursday night in a nationally-televised game on CBS Sports Network. The contest will start at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central). The Flames swept a pair of meetings with the Blue Raiders a season ago, including an 86-81 road win at the Murphy Center (March 6, 2025). Liberty is 3-1 all-time versus MTSU.
CUSA Championship Ticket Information
Ticket packages for the 2026 CUSA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are now on sale. Both the Flames and Lady Flames will look to defend their conference tournament titles at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., March 10-14.
Fans can purchase an all-session booklet through the Liberty Ticket Office for $175, a savings of $25. This includes tickets to all nine men's games and all nine women's games throughout the tournament. To purchase tickets and find more information, please visit http://www.libertyflames.com/CUSABasketball.
Students will be able to purchase tickets for the tournaments on a session-to-session basis. These may be purchased at Propst Arena with a valid student ID (of a CUSA school) for half the price of the current day's session.
Liberty moves to 17-3 on the season and a perfect 9-0 in Conference USA following its 11th straight home victory to start the year. The Flames are a perfect 5-0 in league home matchups as well. Delaware slips to 5-14 overall and 1-7 in league play and sees its losing streak extended to five games. The Blue Hens (1-6 road, 0-3 CUSA road) are still in search of their first CUSA road triumph.
The Flames' 16 forced turnovers this afternoon matched a season high, set previously at Sam Houston on Jan. 10. Liberty held Delaware to 51 points, the Flames' third fewest points surrendered in a game this year.
Box Score Highlights
Liberty Individuals: Brett Decker Jr. 25 points, 8-16 FG, 6-12 3FG, 4 rebounds; JJ Harper 10 points, 4-8 FT, 3 rebounds, 2 steals; Kaden Metheny 9 points, 4 assists; Colin Porter 8 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds; Josh Smith 8 points, 4-4 FG, 4 rebounds; Zach Cleveland 6 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
Delaware Individuals: Christian Bliss 17 points, 5-8 FG, 5-6 FT, 6 rebounds; Justyn Fernandez 16 points, 6-15 FG, 5 rebounds, 8 turnovers
Key Team Stats: Liberty finished the afternoon shooting 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the field and 36.7 percent (11-of-30 from three-point territory. Delaware shot 46.3 percent (19-of-41) for the game but did so on only 41 attempts due to the Flames' defense forcing 16 miscues. The Flames have outshot 17 of their 20 opponents this year, going 17-0 in those matchups Liberty only turned the ball over six times, and the Flames led in points off turnovers, 11-7. The Flames held a 28-27 edge in rebounding while holding the Blue Hens to a single offensive rebound. Liberty's one offensive rebound yielded was a season best. Liberty assisted on 21 of its 24 field goals, its third CUSA game this year with 20 or more assists. Delaware notched only six assists on its 19 makes. The Flames also led in points in the paint (26-24) and bench points (11-3). Liberty led for just over 80 percent of the game (32:07 of 40 minutes), while the Blue Hens led for 6:43. The Flames tallied 10 steals tonight, marking the first time this season they have notched 10 steals in back-to-back games.
Turning Point
Liberty took a 34-28 lead into the half before scoring 14 of the first 20 points to open up a 14-point advantage, 48-34, with 9:40 left. After the Blue Hens' Justyn Fernandez scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half, the Liberty defense held the senior without a field goal (0-of-6) and just two points the rest of the way. The Flames' Josh Smith had back-to-back finishes around the hoop, one a dunk and one a lay-in, for the 48-34 lead with under 10 to play. Delaware drew within 10, 52-42, at the 7:02 mark following a Christian Bliss three-pointer, but an 8-0 Liberty run over the next two-plus minutes put the game in hand for the hosts. During that spurt, Josh Smith had a dunk, and Brett Decker Jr. drilled his sixth and final three of the contest as well as three free throws.
Key Stats & Notes
- Brett Decker Jr. notched his eighth 20-plus point game of the season and third 25-plus point effort of the year. Decker Jr. is the only Flame to score in double figures in all 20 games. The sophomore guard is averaging a team-best 18.0 points per game while shooting exactly 50 percent from long distance (No. 2 in the nation) with a team-high 73 makes from deep.
- This is Liberty's first-ever 9-0 conference start in program history.
- Colin Porter (season-high seven assists) and Zach Cleveland (six assists) both moved into a tie for fifth place in program history with 476 career assists, joining Ed Gomes.
- The Liberty defense limited Christian Bliss, who entered the day averaging 6.3 assists per game, to just one assist.
- Liberty has won 14 straight contests (including postseason play) against Conference USA opponents and are 20-1 in their last 21 games against conference foes dating back to last year.
- The Flames' 11-game winning streak is the seventh longest in the nation at present. Liberty's longest win streak of all-time is 14 games in a row to open the 2019-20 campaign (finished 30-4).
- Liberty has not lost since Dec. 10, a span of 45 days. The Flames have not lost at home in 328 days (March 2, 2025).
- Josh Smith had eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting and was a team-best +19 in his 20:05 of action off the bench.
- The Flames connected on 11 three-pointers tonight. Liberty has made 28 three-pointers in its last two games. This is the first time the Flames have had back-to-back games with 10 or more threes (had 17 at WKU Wednesday night) since doing so in consecutive games against Carolina University (Nov. 17) and Vermont (Nov. 24) at the beginning of the year.
Up Next
Liberty will return to action on Thursday night at Middle Tennessee (11-8, 5-3 CUSA), Thursday night in a nationally-televised game on CBS Sports Network. The contest will start at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central). The Flames swept a pair of meetings with the Blue Raiders a season ago, including an 86-81 road win at the Murphy Center (March 6, 2025). Liberty is 3-1 all-time versus MTSU.
CUSA Championship Ticket Information
Ticket packages for the 2026 CUSA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are now on sale. Both the Flames and Lady Flames will look to defend their conference tournament titles at Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala., March 10-14.
Fans can purchase an all-session booklet through the Liberty Ticket Office for $175, a savings of $25. This includes tickets to all nine men's games and all nine women's games throughout the tournament. To purchase tickets and find more information, please visit http://www.libertyflames.com/CUSABasketball.
Students will be able to purchase tickets for the tournaments on a session-to-session basis. These may be purchased at Propst Arena with a valid student ID (of a CUSA school) for half the price of the current day's session.
Team Stats
UD
Lib
FG%
.463
.471
3FG%
.375
.367
FT%
.538
.615
RB
27
28
TO
16
6
STL
6
10
Game Leaders
Pts
25
FGM
8
3FGM
6
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
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/ Men's Basketball
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