– stock.adobe.com)
Man, life is tough in the C-USA. Liberty was able to get a win on the back end of its two-game road trip out to the Southwest, defeating UTEP in El Paso on Saturday night, 67-65.
This one came after the tough 79-73 OT loss on Thursday night at New Mexico State.
Remember when conferences made some sort of regional sense?
Kaden Metheny scored a game-high 21 points in the win, his highest scoring output in a Flames uniform. Zach Cleveland added 18 points and seven assists for Liberty (14-9, 3-5 C-USA).
Liberty trailed 54-50 with 6:52 left before surging ahead to take the lead with a 9-0 run. The Flames regained the lead, 55-54, on a Zach Cleveland layup with 5:59 to go. Brody Peebles and Cleveland added layups to cap off the run, with Cleveland’s basket at the 3:27 mark putting the visitors ahead 59-54.
UTEP (12-11, 3-5 C-USA) got within three at 63-60 with 1:48 left, but the Flames’ Colin Porter knocked down a pair of foul shots at the 1:01 mark to stretch the lead back to five, 65-60. Single free throws from Kyle Rode and Peebles down the stretch proved to be enough for Liberty to hold on.
With 0.8 seconds left on the clock and trailing 67-64, UTEP’s Tae Hardy knocked down his first free throw and intentionally missed the second. The ball was batted in the air as time ran out, giving Liberty the victory.
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Chris Graham
