Liberty made history Saturday night in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase as the Flames defeated Rice 71-59 to improve to 7-0, Liberty’s best start to a season in school history.
Liberty is the only team in Division I with a 7-0 record. The Flames will advance to the championship game on Sunday where they will face the winner of East Carolina vs. UMKC game.
Liberty went on two runs throughout the first half that were of 10-0 or more to create a gap between the Flames and the Owls. To end the first half, Liberty went on an 18-2 run to take a 35-20 lead sparked by holding Rice to just 30 percent (7-23) shooting from the field.
On the offensive end, Liberty shot 53 percent (15-28) from the field as Liberty’s frontcourt of Myo Baxter-Bell (8 points) and Scottie James (9 points) combined for 17 of Liberty’s 35 points. Liberty’s run would continue to start the second half as the run ended at 29-2 for the Flames.
Rice would make comeback at the end of the game but the Flames were able to hold onto the lead, pulling out the victory.
“We have a special group that has a united pursuit in our school’s mission of ‘Training Champions for Christ’ but also to encourage each other,” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said. “I do not think too much about starts to the seasons, but we just want to pursue in getting better and this team is improving on a regular basis. I thought we did some excellent things tonight and when you don’t have guys like Caleb (Homesley), Marten (Maide) and Keegan (McDowell) this is huge for our guys to get here.”
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