Kaden Metheny drains 3-pointer in final moments to lift Flames past LA Tech

The Liberty Flames men’s basketball team defeated Louisiana Tech in a nail-biting 65-62 contest Feb. 10 in front of a sellout crowd at Liberty Arena. The Bulldogs entered Saturday’s game as the hottest team in the CUSA with a 6-2 conference record, but redshirt junior Kaden Metheny would add one more loss to that figure as he hit a massive 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to give the Flames back-to-back wins at home.

“Hats off to Louisiana Tech,” Flames Head Coach Ritchie McKay said postgame. “That is a terrific team. They are a really hard (team to) prep (for) because they … have some terrific players. (Louisiana Tech Head Coach Talvin Hester) has done a phenomenal job. It’s a great win because of the caliber of the opponent. Secondly, we don’t win that game without Flames Nation. They were tremendous and gave us a home-court advantage that we certainly needed tonight. Happy with our group and the way they navigated the bumpy road.”

The Flames trailed in the game for more than 32 minutes, but an 18-4 run late in the second half featuring junior guard Brody Peebles, Metheny and redshirt senior forward Kyle Rode was enough to bring the Flames within striking distance in the game’s final minutes. Peebles hit a jumper inside the paint to put the Flames up by two with 23 seconds left. The Bulldogs would tie it right after with 12 seconds to go.

Then, Liberty got the ball in the hands of sophomore forward Zach Cleveland, who drove into the paint before kicking it out to a wide-open Metheny for the game-winning 3-pointer that electrified the building.

“(Metheny) was really close to me,” McKay said. “When it left his hand, I thought, ‘Man, he’s really far out there.’ Then I heard the reaction, and I didn’t see it go through the net, but again, … not unlike Darius (McGhee), we’ve seen Kaden make an awful lot of those baskets in practice.”

The Flames shot 65.4% from the field and 61.5% from behind the arc in the second half, which is markedly different from their play in the first half. After opening the game 2-6 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arc, the Flames’ cold stretch continued to haunt them throughout the first half, and they found themselves down four at the 10:40 mark. Liberty’s rough stretch got to be so bad that the Flames were unable to score for 5:20 of the 20-minute first half, but somehow the Flames were only down 20-14 with 5:07 left. 

 

The scoring for both units would continue to wane, with multiple turnovers and missed shots throughout the closing minutes. Liberty headed to the locker room down 29-22 at halftime.

“I thought we had some clean looks in the first half, and again, you guys have been around us enough to know that we don’t judge the quality of our shot by whether it goes through the net or not,” McKay said. “To our guys’ credit, they keep shooting them. … I think the biggest adjustment was guys got in a little bit of rhythm. They saw it go through the hoop and got a little more confident.” 

The bright spots for the Bulldogs were redshirt junior forward Daniel Batcho and senior forward Isaiah Crawford, who combined for 37 of the team’s 62 points. 

The Flames had three of their five starters end the evening with double digits in the point column. Rode, Peebles and Metheny ended with 18, 16 and 21 points, respectively, for a total of 55 points. Cleveland led the team with six steals and five assists, and he also added three steals on the night.

“Why don’t we get the ball in Zach’s hands? (He’s a) great playmaker, a great attacker getting to the rim,” Metheny said.

After defeating the Bulldogs, the Flames are 5-5 in conference play and 16-9 overall. Their next contest will be on the home court of the Sam Houston Bearkats, who are 6-3 in conference play and tied for first place. Liberty faced off against the Bearkats last month at home, defeating them 82-66 after one of its better shooting nights of the season.

Clingman is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X