Liberty, down nine points with seven minutes to go in Game 1 of its weekend series at Jacksonville, rallied to defeat the Dolphins, 59-54, Friday night.
Liberty improves to 13-5 and 5-2 in the ASUN Conference while Jacksonville falls to 9-8 and 3-4 in conference.
Jacksonville (30 percent) outshot Liberty (27 percent) from the floor in the opening period, but the two went into halftime tied at 22-22.
The Dolphins would take the lead two minutes into the half and push the lead to 42-33 with seven minutes left in the game.
The Flames countered with a 10-0 run to retake the lead with 4:41 left in the game. Liberty outscored Jacksonville 26-12 sparked by Chris Parker scoring 11 points along with two assists in the final seven minutes of the game.
Chris Parker scored 18 points for Liberty, tying his season high.
“I am happy that we got the win,” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said. “I was a little concerned coming in. I thought that layoff would affect us a little bit. I thought the attention that has been paid to us not playing great on Friday would be a little bit of the elephant in the room and I knew them (Jacksonville) not having Kevion Nolan, like Stetson, gives guys more opportunity to shoot and play with freedom. Really fortunate to get the win.”
Liberty will conclude this weekend series with Jacksonville on Saturday at Swisher Gymnasium.
Tipoff against the Dolphins is set for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
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