Liberty saw its 45-game winning streak at home snapped Saturday night at Liberty Arena, falling to Jacksonville State 77-67.
Liberty drops to 14-7 overall and 5-1 in the ASUN while Jacksonville State improves to 15-6 and 8-0 in conference.
The Flames and Gamecocks went back-and-forth throughout the first half with six lead changes and three ties. JSU was able to close out the half strong going on an 18-5 run over the last six minutes to go into halftime with a 38-25 lead.
Jacksonville State shot 52 percent from three-point range in the first half while holding Liberty to 35 percent from the field. Jacksonville State’s Jalen Gibbs led all players with 14 points in the first half while Darius McGhee was right behind him, leading the Flames with 13 points.
As Liberty attempted to make a comeback in the second half, cutting Jacksonville State’s lead to single digits by the 13:25-mark, Jacksonville State was able to maintain its lead, as the Flames were unable to overcome the deficit.
The closest Liberty got to tying the game was five points on four different occasions in the second half. After Liberty cut JSU’s lead to five points (50-45) at the 10:05-mark, Jacksonville State would reclaim its double-digit lead going on an 11-4 run over the next four minutes and come away with the victory.
Jacksonville State’s Jalen Finch led JSU in the second half scoring 12 points in the final 20 minutes.
“I said to our guys in the locker room that I am very thankful for all the players that are in that locker room and Myo (Baxter-Bell), Zach (Farquhar), Luke (McKay) and the guys that were not in the locker room, Caleb (Homesley) and Lovell (Cabbil Jr.),” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said. “To win 45 games in a row at home is amazing. Sad that the streak has come to an end but they (Jacksonville State) were the better team tonight and hopefully we will learn from it, and we have a tough stretch coming up so our bounce back needs to happen fast.”
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