Liberty utilized a 15-0 run late in the second half to seize control of the game and to beat Grand Canyon, 70-61.

With the win the Flames move to 11-0 on the season, the first Division I program to get to 11 wins. This was also the 300th career win for Ritchie McKay, and he now has the most career DI wins by a Liberty head coach. McKay has won 135 wins at Liberty, besting Jeff Meyer’s 134 Division I wins. Meyer is the all-time career win leader at Liberty with 259, but many of those came before the Flames moved to the DI ranks.

Playing on a neutral court, but virtually a home game, Liberty fell behind in the opening minutes as Grand Canyon took the early 4-0 lead. Dan Majerle’s Antelopes did a good job of switching defenses from man-to-man to a matchup zone, as the Flames had struggles finding a consistent rhythm on offense.

As has become the norm under Coach McKay, Liberty found success from behind the arc, making 5-of-12 three pointers in the first half compared to an 0-of-8 mark from GCU. Liberty’s Elijah Cuffee entered the game shooting 58% from three, and he connected on both of his first half triples to lead the Flames with 8 points in the opening stanza.

The Flames got to the line frequently in the first half, but only made 5-of-9 free throws. Myo Baxter-Bell led the team with six free throw attempts, only making three of them.

The game went back and forth throughout much of the second half before the Flames seized control of the game with the 15-0 run. The run became at the 10:13 mark of the second half and lasted until the 3:44 mark.

During the run, the Flames got 8 points from Myo Baxter-Bell, 3 from Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz, and 2 each from Caleb Homesley and Darius McGhee.

Myo would go on to finish with 15 points as he made 7-of-11 of his free throw attempts. He also finished with 5 rebounds, tied with Caleb Homesley and Darius McGhee for the team high.

Homesley returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the Morgan State game to open the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase. He finished with 17 points to lead the team.

Elijah Cuffee added 11 while Darius McGhee had 10.

The Flames got to the free throw line 28 times, but only converted on 18 of those attempts.

Liberty will return action on Saturday as the Flames take on Vanderbilt in Nashville. The Flames are one of just eight remaining unbeatens in the country.

*photo courtesy Liberty University Athletics