Liberty (24-6, 16-3 CUSA) trailed throughout as AJ Bates scored 34 points to lead Louisiana Tech (17-13, 10-9 CUSA) to a 76-71 win Thursday night at Liberty Arena in front of a crowd of 3,134.
“Congratulations to Louisiana Tech,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “They played better than us, coached better than us, and they deserved to win the game.”
The Bulldogs made 6 of their first 7 field goal attempts to begin the game, including a pair of three-pointers by Bates. It sparked an early 12-5 Louisiana Tech lead as they did not trail all night. Just a couple months ago when these two teams met in Ruston, Louisiana, it was the other way around as the Bulldogs only led for 40 seconds while the Flames controlled the game throughout. LA Tech was able to lead throughout despite a the offensive firepower from Liberty leading scorer Brett Decker. He scored the Flames’ first 10 points of the game and raced out to 22 points in the first half, to match Bates’ first half output. Liberty went into the locker room with a five point deficit despite making 10 of 17 from three, including a combined 9 of 12 from Decker and Kaden Metheny.
In the second half, the Bulldogs scored the first 6 points to extend their lead to a game high of 11 before Liberty quickly scored 7 unanswered to trim their deficit back to single digits. The margin would stay in that range until the Flames went on a 7-0 run, tying the game at 65 with 7:07 remaining. It was the first time the game was tied since it was 5-5 at the 17:15 mark of the first half.
From there, Liberty went cold on the offensive end. After tying the game, the Flames’ final 13 shot attempts were all from behind the arc. Liberty was 14 of 26 on three-point shots prior to that mark but limped to the finish, making just 2 of 13 from three to close out the game. During this stretch, Louisiana Tech went on an 11-3 run to take an 8-point lead with 1:26 remaining as they cruised to the win.
Bates finished with a game-high 34 points on 13 of 23 shooting and 6 of 11 from three. The sophomore guard hadn’t made a single field goal in his prior two games. He also hadn’t made a single three-pointer in his prior five games, going 0 for 11. He was just 3 for 42 from three in his 14 games before entering Thursday night’s action. On the season, Bates is making just 25.3% from three.
“I’m not sure how many three-pointers he had made in conference play before tonight, but he was cooking,” McKay said of Bates. “We’ve got to learn how to make it harder for him if we’re going to where we want to go. Hats off to him. He played terrifically. I’m not used to seeing our defense play with that kind of confusion. We will address that.”
Behind Bates, Louisiana Tech shot 52.5% from the field, marking the fourth straight game the Flames have allowed an opponent to shoot over 50% from the floor. Liberty has dropped three of those four contests. On the season, the Flames are 3-6 when its opponent shoots better than 50% from the field and 21-0 when holding the opponent below 50% field goal shooting.
“We gave up layups,” McKay said of his defense. “Layup after layup after layup. Turnover, layup. Offensive rebound, layup. That’s not the way you win basketball games. They had a lot to do with it. It wasn’t a size disadvantage as much as it was they did a better job coaching.”
Decker finished the game with a career-high 30 points, the most scored by a Liberty player this season. He was 10 of 16 form the e field and 8 of 13 from three. His 8 triples tied a career high, and he now has 105 made three-pointers this season, which is the 4th most in a single season in program history.
Kaden Metheny added 15 points on 5 of 13 shooting from three to go along with 6 rebounds. Josh Smith had 9 points and 4 rebounds while Zach Cleveland had 7 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds.
The Flames will close out the regular season with Senior Day festivities prior to Saturday’s game against Sam Houston with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. on ESPN+. The Bearkats are currently 21-9 on the season and 13-6 in conference play after losing at Delaware on Thursday night.
“We’re the regular season champions,” said McKay. “We earned that. None of that matters in about 4 of 4 days. I don’t care who was our next opponent, Chris Mudge does a great job. They are terrifically well-coached. They have a really good team, but we need to play like Liberty. If we’re going to wear the jersey that says Liberty, we need to play like that.”
