Liberty (18-7, 9-1) jumped out to a 16-6 early lead on Lipscomb (10-17, 3-8) and never looked back, leading throughout. The Flames would win the game, 78-69, to get back in the win column at Liberty Arena following the team’s first loss at home in three years in the previous outing on their home floor.

“Lipscomb is good, don’t look at their record,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. “With the way the season has gone for us, we know what it’s like when COVID hits your team, and we know how long a runway it is to recover from it. We have fortunately averted the injury bug, they haven’t. They’ve had COVID, they’ve had injuries.”

It was the Darius McGhee and Kyle Rode show tonight for the Flames. The dynamic tandem each had career nights surpassing the 20-point plateau. McGhee finished with 29 points, 10 assists (career-high), and 8 rebounds, marking his first career double-double. Rode chipped in a career-high 24 points.

The Flames have just concluded a grueling 13 day stretch in which they played six games coming off a COVID pause. Liberty went 5-1 during that stretch, setting them up to be in contention for a fourth straight regular season ASUN title. After a couple days without a game, Liberty returns to action on Saturday at Jacksonville at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. The Dolphins are currently 14-8 overall and 6-4 in conference play. Liberty defeated Jacksonville, 88-49, on Jan. 18 at Liberty Arena.

“For our group to do what they did over the last 13-14 days, is impressive,” said McKay. “Really think that the road that we had to travel to do what we’ve done in the last two weeks was a hard one, I think we got to the other side of it.”

Here are our three main takeaways from today’s game:

DARIUS MCGHEE ECLIPSES 100 3PT FGS THIS SEASON

Liberty guard Darius McGhee continues to re-write the Flames’ record book. He’s already the career three point field goal leader for Liberty, and on Tuesday night against Lipscomb he became just the fourth player in school history to make 100 or more three-point field goals in a season.

Darius entered the night having made 99, just ahead of his 93 three-pointers made last year. He now stands alone in second place with 105 three-point field goals made in a season, trailing only Davon Marshall’s school record of 107 made triples during the 2012-13 season. McGhee passed Kyle Ohman and Seth Curry on Tuesday night. That electric shooting pair each made over 100 three pointers during the 2008-09 season. Fun fact, Coach McKay has been on the sidelines as Liberty’s head coach for six of the seven top three-point field goal seasons.

“I think he’s an all-American candidate,” McKay said of McGhee. “He does so much for our team. If he continues to average six turnovers a game, that will be another story, he will be the best conditioned player in the country. He sees the game really well. I think when you decide to play him one way, I think he does a great job of taking advantage of what the defense is giving us.”

KYLE RODE WITH A CAREER NIGHT

Kyle Rode continues to play at another level as he has since the East Carolina game just before Christmas. He raised it another notch Tuesday night against Lipscomb. Rode finished with a career high 24 points as he made 8 of 11 field goals and 6 of 7 from behind the arc. After starting the year just 7 of 28 from three, Rode has now made 28 of 47 three-pointers, that’s 59.6%.

ISIAH WARFIELD PROVIDES SPARK OF ENERGY OFF BENCH

As the season progresses, Isiah Warfield continues to see his role increase. He played over 16 minutes against the Bisons, and was frequently seen diving on the floor, taking charges, and providing the energy off the bench the Flames need. His production doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet, he finished the night with 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 2 steals. If he can begin to provide something on the offensive end of the floor, it may be difficult for Coach McKay to take him off the floor.

“Really pleased with their effort,” McKay said of his entire team. “Guys came in and did a nice job of playing their roles. I think sometimes you get seduced when you watch the game into thinking a guy’s value is in his scoring and that’s not always the case.”