Liberty’s Taelon Peter has been named Conference USA 6th Man of the Year while Kaden Metheny earns Second Team All-CUSA honors. Additionally Peter and Zach Cleveland were named Third Team All-CUSA and Colin Porter Honorable Mention all-conference. This group helped the Flames to finish as the regular season champs in Conference USA, earning the No. 1 seed in this week’s CUSA Tournament, in the program’s second year in the conference. Liberty finished the regular season at 25-6 overall and 13-5 in CUSA play.

Peter, in his first year with the Flames after transferring from Arkansas Tech, leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds while shooting 43.4% from three. Peter has scored over 30 points three times this season including 33 in last week’s win over Middle Tennessee.

“Taelon is a starter in my mind and in (his teammates) minds’ too,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “They have confidence in him on both ends. They know the impact that each of them could have on a given night. It could be Owen (Aquino) one night, Zander (Yates) has come in and played well. I just think that’s our team, that’s our collective intelligence and commitment to sacrifice.”

Metheny is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game while shooting 37.2% from three. Cleveland leads the team in rebounds (6.5) and assists (5.1) and is third on the team in scoring at 10.7 points per game. Meanwhile, Porter is averaging 9.1 points and 4.1 assist sper game while leading the team in 44.1% shooting from behind the three-point arc.

“I think there’s some good players in our league,” said McKay. “Personally, I believe we have first-team all-conference players, but it wasn’t voted that way. It just is what it is. We’re not going to be identified by a number, neither will our players be identified for not being first-teamers. I think we have really good players. Maybe it penalizes them that we are balanced or really unselfish, I don’t know, I hope not. But I think our guys trust in the process of what a successful team can do for you in the present and in the future.”

The Flames return to action Wednesday evening at 6:30 Eastern in the CUSA Tournament quarterfinals. The Flames are the #1 seed and will take on the winner of Tuesday’s game between #8 seed UTEP and #9 seed Sam Houston in Huntsville, Alabama.

2024-25 CUSA POSTSEASON AWARDS

Player of the Year: Jaron Pierre, Jr., Jax State
Defensive Player of the Year: Daniel Batcho, Louisiana Tech
Freshman of the Year: Adrian Wooley, Kennesaw State
Sixth Player of the Year: Taelon Peter, Liberty
Coach of the Year: Ray Harper, Jax State
Newcomer of the Year: Essam Mostafa, MTSU

All-CUSA First Team

Jaron PIerre, Jr., Jax State
Adrian Wooley, Kennesaw State
Daniel Batcho, LA Tech
Essam Mostafa, MTSU
Lamar Wilkerson, Sam  Houston

All-CUSA Second Team

Simeon Cottle, Kennesaw State
Kaden Metheny, Liberty
Justin Porter, MTSU
Otis Frazier III, UTEP
Don McHenry, WKU

All-CUSA Third Team

Zach Cleveland, Liberty
Taelon Peter, Liberty
Sean Newman Jr., LA Tech
Christian Cook, NMSU
Peter Filipovity, NMSU

All-CUSA Honorable Mention

Jayden Brewer, FIU
Mason Nicholson, Jax State
Colin Porter, Liberty
Amaree Abram, LA Tech
Camryn Weston, MTSU
Cameron Huefner, Sam Houston
Corey Camper, Jr., UTEP
David Terrell Jr., UTEP
Khristian Lander, WKU
Tyrone Marshall, WKU

CUSA All-Defensive Team

Vianney Salatchoum, FIU
Mason Nicholson, Jax State
Daniel Batcho, LA Tech
Corey Camper, Jr., UTEP
Otis Frazier III, UTEP

CUSA All-Freshman Team

Quel’Ron House, Jax State
Braedan Lue, Kennesaw State
Adrian Wooley, Kennesaw State
Torey Alston, MTSU
Julius Thedford, WKU