No. 1 Liberty (27-6, 13-5 CUSA) rallied from a double digit deficit in the second half to knock off No. 4 Kennesaw State (19-14, 10-8), 81-79, in the semifinals of the CUSA Tournament on Friday afternoon. The Flames advance to the league’s championship game on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. against either No. 2 seed Jacksonville State or No. 3 seed Middle Tennessee.
“A lot of respect for that group we just played,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “For them to endure what they did last night. The game was physical, it was tough, it was hard-fought. To come out and play the way they did speaks volumes to Coach Pettway and the program that he’s built upon from Amir (Abdur-Rahim).”
The Owls led for 36:11 of the game and by as many as 14 before Liberty took over its lead for the final 3:08. The Flames take the season series from the Owls, winning two of the three games. Liberty also picks up the win after falling to Kennesaw in the last time the two met in a conference tournament game, the 2023 CUSA Title Game, by a score of 67-66. It’s the largest come from behind win Liberty has had since the 2018 Big South semifinals when the Flames rallied from a 41-26 second half deficit to win on March 2, 2018. Liberty would go on to lose on a buzzer beater at Radford in the Big South Title the next game.
“We haven’t trailed that long all season,” said McKay. “To be done, literally for 36+ minutes, incredibly proud of our group’s resiliency. They had a belief. One of our players said in the locker room, ‘Colin Porter believed the whole game.’ When you have a point guard like him, you got a chance to have a special season. That’s been the case for us.”
The Owls jumped on top with a three-pointer from first-team all-CUSA and Freshman of the Year Adrian Wooley just 19 seconds into the game’s action. Showing no signs of tired legs from a physical win over New Mexico State in the Quarterfinals on Thursday night, Kennesaw jumped out to an early 10-3 lead as they made four of their first five field goals.
The hot shooting from the Owls would continue, led by Wooley who made his first five field goals as Kennesaw pushed the lead to as high as 14 in the opening half. Liberty junior point guard Colin Porter would get much more aggressive on offense and then was switched onto Wooley on defense. Porter would score 8 points in the final 7:22 of the opening 20 minutes while also helping to contain Wooley and hold him without a field goal over the final 8 minutes of the first half. The Flames would get a dunk from Zach Cleveland as time expired in the first half to cut the deficit to 40-31.
Liberty began chipping away at their deficit out of the halftime locker room, cutting the Owls lead to as few as three on two different possessions, but Kennesaw continued to have answers. The 4-seed, clad in their black uniforms, would go on a 7-0 spurt to push the lead to 13 midway through the second half. It looked like the Flames would see their stay in Huntsville come to an end.
Liberty came right back, as Porter found Owen Aquino open under the basket for a layup and 30 seconds later Porter drilled a three-pointer to cut the Kennesaw lead to 8. The Flames continued to trim into the lead as Kaden Metheny heated up. The second-team all-CUSA performer hit five triples in a span of less than six minutes of game action. His three with 3:30 remaining gave Liberty its first lead of the day, a lead the Flames would not squander.
The Owls wouldn’t give the Flames much ground, as Liberty’s lead grew no more than four. Taelon Peter got a key steal and breakaway dunk to put Liberty up four with 29 seconds remaining. Jayvon Maughmer and Peter each hit one free throw to keep Kennesaw at bay to preserve the win.
Liberty was able to overcome 28 points from Wooley. The Owls shot 48.1% from the field for the game after being held to 40% shooting in the second half. The Owls also connected on 8 of 20 (40.0%) from three and 19 of 23 (82.6%) from the foul line. Simeon Cottle, a second team all-CUSA selection, scored 13 points but he was just 2 of 12 shooting.
The Flames were led by Metheny, who scored 24. He made 7 of 13 from behind the arch. Porter scored 15 and had 5 assists. Zach Cleveland finished the game with 11 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds, while Taelon Peter added 11 points and 6 rebounds. Liberty shot 50.9% from the field for the game and made 14 of 32 three-pointers, good for 43.8%. The Flames shot 57.1% from the floor in the second half.
“That’s been my proclamation all year long,” McKay said of his guards Porter and Metheny and their fight despite their size disadvantage. “Whatever their height limitation is in terms of their matchup, they overcome it with their toughness, their perseverance, their commitment, and their basketball acumen. These are two of the brightest basketball players that we’ve had come through our doors. Wooley and Cottle, you’re not going to stop them, you just have to hope to contain them. They have so many really good actions that put you in a compromising position. Their staff does a really good job of recognizing your coverage and trying to penalize you for it.”
With the win, the Flames improve to 11-7 all-time in conference tournament Semifinal games and 11-0 all-time as the No. 1 seed. Liberty also clinches a spot in the conference title game for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, a span that stretches three different conferences.
