No. 1 seed Liberty (26-6) defeated No. 8 seed UTEP (18-15) on Wednesday evening, 81-60, in the CUSA Quarterfinals advance to the Semifinals on Friday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The 21-point win is the largest margin of victory for Liberty in a conference tournament game since the 2004 Big South Championship win over High Point. The Flames will take on the winner of No. 4 seed Kennesaw State and No. 5 seed New Mexico State.
“It says something about the quality of this league when you are playing against a team like UTEP in the first round of your tournament,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “For that team to get the 8-seed speaks to the level of prowess, coaching prowess, playing prowess, that is in this conference. Really pleased that we were able to come away with a victory. I have a lot of respect for Coach Golding, the way they play. Their style is unique and it causes a lot of problems. It gets you out of y our every day offense. Hats off to our group. They showed a lot of maturity in our execution and defensively I thought we made it hard for them on occasion and that’s always good for us.”
Devon Barnes opened the scoring getting the Miners on the board and it was a sign of things to come in the first half from the Junior guard. Barnes knocked in four three pointers in the opening 20 minutes and scored 15 points to help the underdog Miners stay in the contest. Barnes scored 13 straight for the Miners during one stretch of the opening half.
He connected on a four-point play to give UTEP an 18-16 lead at the 9:36 mark of the first half. From there, Liberty would find a rhythm and go on a 10-0 spurt to take an eight point lead. The run would have been 20-0 if it weren’t for two Barnes triples. The Flames would lead by as many as 12 in the first half and hold UTEP without a field goal over the final 4:40. The only Miner to make a field goal in the final 11:32 of the first half was Barnes. Liberty led 36-26 at intermission, paced by 10 points from Zach Cleveland.
Perhaps having some flashbacks to last season when UTEP overcame a double digit deficit in the second half to defeat Liberty on the same floor in the CUSA Quarterfinals, the Flames were sure to make sure history didn’t repeat itself. During a key stretch of the second half, the Flames made 12 straight field goals. During that period, Liberty pushed its lead from 12 to 23 and seized control of the game, cruising to the victory.
“First of all, we have a different team,” McKay said when asked about the change from last year’s outcome to this year. “We have older guys from last year’s group that logged some heavy minutes. Those returners – Kaden, Zach, Colin – they’re better. I think the newcomers that we’ve added have made us a little more competitive. This group’s maturity and emotional stability is really important to our cause. They don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. They appropriate their faith into their person and into their game. It’s special to have a chance to be around a group like this because they have great humility but they are also confident.”
This year’s tournament marked the first time the Flames have been the No. 1 seed at the CUSA Tournament in the two year’s in the league. It is the fourth time Liberty has ever been the No. 1 seed in a conference tournament, and the Flames improve to 10-0 all-time as the No. 1 seed winning tournament titles in 2004, 2020, and 2021.
Zach Cleveland led the way for the Flames with 19 points on 9 of 13 shooting to go along with 6 assists. Kaden Metheny scored 16, making 4 of his 8 three point attempts. Taelon Peter did not miss a shot, making all five of his attempts including four from three as the CUSA 6th Man of the Year finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Jayvon Maughmer continued his strong play, as he had 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Flames had 25 assists on 32 made baskets in the game. The Flames had one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season, shooting 58.2% from the field and 12 of 25 (48.0%) from three. Liberty shot 69.2% from the field in the second half.
UTEP was held to 36.2% shooting from the field and made 7 of 22 from three. Barnes, who scored 15 in the opening half, finished the game with 18 as Liberty shut him down in the e seconds half.
