Just a few weeks ago, Liberty was in the midst of a 17-game win streak and started Conference USA play at 15-0. Then, the Flames faltered down the stretch, losing three out of four to close the regular season. The struggles would carry over into the postseason where Liberty’s quest for a second straight CUSA Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance came to an end at the hands of 9-seed Missouri State, 77-69.

“Congratulations to Missouri State,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “Coach Martin is a great person. Their staff is terrific. Really well-coached team. My hat’s off to them. They are a really tough out.”

Liberty falls to 25-7 on the season while Missouri State improves to 15-16. The Bears, behind head coach Cuonzo Martin advance to Friday’s semifinals where they will play the winner of 4-seed Louisiana Tech and 5-seed Middle Tennessee.

For the Flames and it’s big three seniors of Zach Cleveland, Colin Porter, and Kaden Metheny, the season ends in disappointment. This group came back together for one more rodeo looking to get back to the Big Dance for a second straight season after tasting that success a year ago. It wasn’t meant to be as Michael Osei-Bonsu was way too much for the smaller Flames to handle. The senior big man had a career high 31 points on 14 of 16 shooting. Liberty tried everything it could to s low him down from doubling him to playing RJ Jones a personal conference season high 13-minutes to fouling him. Nothing worked.

“It felt unstoppable,” McKay said of Osei-Bonsu. “He’s 14 for 16 from the floor, 31 points. We resorted to fouling him to see if we couldn’t take advantage of maybe some free throw shooting woes that he’s experienced through the year. He’s a problem when he gets it down there. If you double team him, he’s a terrific passer. He has great vision. You compromise your defense and give up rhythm threes. If you don’t double team him, he will just keep backing you down. Our guys battled, but that one’s on me. I would have had to find a better solution.”

Osei-Bonsu made quick work of JJ Harper to open the game, scoring 8 points on 4 of 4 shooting before the first media timeout. The Flames then quickly went to Josh Smith and then RJ Jones off the bench to try and disrupt the Missouri State forward. It worked momentarily and the Flames held Missouri State six minutes without scoring as they missed eight straight shots. Liberty went on a 14-0 run, sparked by the first 12 all coming from the bench capped by 5 straight from Jones, the Virginia Tech transfer. It pushed Liberty into the lead the last half of the opening 20 minutes as the Flames went into the locker room with a 37-33 lead.

After halftime, Liberty utilized a 7-0 run to extend its lead to a game-high 10 and looked like it was going to pull away and cruise into the semifinal round for an 8th time in the last 9 seasons. Osei-Bonsu wouldn’t let that happen. He made four buckets in less than three minutes to quickly cut the lead to 2. It helped spark a 15-0 Missouri State run as they stormed into the lead midway through the second half.

“Proud of our group,” said McKay “I thought we fought. Had a couple of times we separated, had a double digit lead and just couldn’t pull away. They came back each time and got it to a two possession game within 2 or 3 possessions.”

Trailing by seven, Liberty scored 7 of the next 9 points to get back within one at 58-57 by the under 8 media timeout, but Missouri State and Osei-Bonsu again had an answer. They scored five straight to reclaim the lead for good. The Bears shot 73.7% from the floor in the second half while holding Liberty to just 11 of 35 shooting (31.4%) and 4 of 19 (21.1%) from three after halftime.

“I thought we had some good looks,” said McKay. “I think the last 4 minutes we were chasing points, that’s always a difficult equation. We weren’t in our normal offensive flow. They had a lot to do with that. Some nights you are not going to be as fluid as you would like to be or as consistent as you’ve been throughout the season. That was evident in the second half. We didn’t get the same quality of looks, but I think part of it is we were taking out of the net nearly every time. They shot 73.7% (in the 2nd half). You’re not going to win many games if a team is making 3 out of every 4 baskets. That led to part of our offensive woes.”

Liberty falls for the first time ever in a conference tournament as the 1-seed, having won their first 12 contests in program history in that position. The Flames also become the first 1-seed to fall to a 9-seed in the CUSA Tournament since 2017 when Marshall beat Middle Tennessee.

Zach Cleveland led the way for the Flames with 20 points on 9 of 14 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds and 4 assists. Brett Decker added 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting and 2 of 8 from three. Kaden Metheny also scored 14, making 4 of 10 from three. Colin Porter struggled shooting, finishing the game with 4 points on 2 of 10 from the field and 0 for 6 from three. It was the first time in conference play and just second time this season that Porter didn’t make at least one triple.

Despite not making the NCAA Tournament, Liberty will be able to play in the NIT for just the second time in program history. The NIT selections and bracket will be released Sunday night.