It looked like the third time was the charm for Lipscomb against Liberty in the ASUN tournament. Not quite, Liberty’s moving on.
Liberty survived and advanced. The Flames took down the Bison at home, 52-47.
Offensively, it wasn’t pretty — 17-57 from the field and 6-32 from three, the Flames looked bleak. Thankfully for them, they limited Lipscomb to 19-58 shooting and 3-20 shooting from the three-point line.
The game started off with Liberty jumping out to a lead courtesy of a Darius McGhee three.
Liberty was able to get out to a 17-9 lead, but it would be its largest of the night. Lipscomb dug deep and crippled the Flame’s offense.
While McGhee scored 26, he struggled for large swaths of the game. He was held to 10-25 shooting and 4-15 from three.
Lipscomb took advantage and took the lead 22-21, with 2:58 to go in the first half. Both teams got a bucket after this, and Lipscomb went into the locker room with a one-point lead.
In the second half, both teams started to make their shots. Freshman all-conference team member Trae Benham put the Bison up by four with a three before McDowell responded to keep it at one.
McGhee dropped another before Benham responded to take the lead back 32-31.
Benham was efficient for the Bison, dropping 21 points on 9-20 shooting. Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff praised Benham’s development.
“He was not playing at all when the conference started, he was not playing,” Acuff said. “But he kept coming to practice every day, and everyday he’s playing well… he’s really moved the needle for us the last month.”
Lipscomb was able to stretch its lead to four, its largest of the second half.
Although McGhee was inconsistent, he made the shots when it mattered. A three-point jumper put it within one before a thunderous alley-oop to Blake Preston gave the Flames the lead, sending the crowd into a fury.
Coach McKay admitted the play helped re-energize both the crowd and the team.
“It got us going the right direction,” McKay said. “I was just a little worried that Blake was going to hang on the rim and get a technical because I’ve seen him do that before,” he said jokingly as Preston grinned. “But no, that was a big play. Anytime you can lift your crowd onto their feet, that helps the cause.”
The Bison did get back in front, and with 6:38 to go, Ahsan Asadullah put the Bison up by three.
Asadullah, the dominant imposing center, had an unusually quiet night, however. An ASUN all-first team member, he only went 5-14 for 10 points on the evening.
Shiloh Robinson was able to put two free throws up for the Flames, before Kyle Rode made an emotional layup to put the Flames up by one with 5:31 left in the game.
It was Rode’s only field goal all night. Rode had a perplexing game. He was 1-10 shooting, but he recorded eight rebounds and six assists.
Then, McGhee locked in. A heavily contest pullup jumper in the face of Asadullah put the Flames up by three, and while Asadullah responded with a hook shot, McGhee responded again with another layup.
Acuff admitted he’s happy to not have to face McGhee anymore.
“I’m glad he’s gone; I can tell you that right now,” Acuff said laughingly.
The arena remained on edge for the final two minutes of the game before Keegan McDowell was able to draw a foul, earning him two free throws.
McDowell drained them, putting Liberty up by five with 21 seconds to go, effectively icing the game.
Liberty held on, winning 52-47, booking its spot in the ASUN Championship Semifinals.
McKay was drained but happy with the result.
“It is tournament time,” McKay said. “That was really hard fought… felt like we were a little down because we weren’t efficient offensively… we’re better than that.”
Liberty next opponent is Bellarmine. The Knights, in their second year in the conference, have never traveled to Lynchburg. The Flames are 2-0 against Bellarmine with both wins coming on the road.
The Flames play the Knights Saturday March 5. The tournament still runs through Jacksonville State, the overall number one seed, after the Gamecocks defeated Kennesaw State 78-67.
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