Liberty led Austin Peay by five at halftime, but Austin Peay stormed back in the second half to defeat the Flames 75-66 in the St. Pete Shootout Championship game on Saturday at Eckerd College.
Liberty falls to 10-4 this season.
Liberty struggled at the beginning of the game to develop a rhythm on offense but got hot to close out the first half, shooting 60 percent in the half led by Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz’s 10 points at the break.
“I thought in the first half we took a really big punch and responded well,” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said. “Austin Peay is a good team and we knew coming in that it was going to be hard, especially with no prep time but I thought our guys responded well, despite the foul trouble. In the second half we got away from what we do every day.”
Going into the second half, Austin Peay made it difficult for the Flames, limiting Liberty to shoot 32.1 percent from the field, making just nine field goals in the half. Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor was exceptional all night on offense scoring 32 points, shooting 12-17 from the field while Taylor and the Govenors shot 55.2 percent in the final half.
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