Largest crowd in Area history rallies Flames to Senior Night victory

A little over four weeks ago, Liberty Arena boasted its second largest crowd since its opening in the fall of 2020. On Friday, Feb. 24, that achievement was blown out of the water by the setting of a new record — 4,041, the most attendees at a sporting event hosted in the arena. That same crowd was treated to a new sight for Liberty as the Flames cut down the nets in their home arena on senior night.

“Our crowd carried the day tonight. They’re tremendous,” Head Coach Ritchie McKay said postgame. “The moment we broke the ice, I felt like (the crowd) was worth six, eight or 10 points.”

Pregame, the Flames recognized the five senior athletes and two managers. Guard Stephen Burggraf, guard Darius McGhee, forward Blake Preston, forward Shiloh Robinson, forward Kyle Rode and managers Joshua Street and Tyler Czock all walked down center-court as they were showered with the praise from the Liberty fandom.

For the first half of basketball, it seemed that the Flames would need those points provided by the crowd. Just over a fourth of the way into the game, the Flames trailed the Queens Royals 13-9. The main reason for the Flames lack of offensive production was their inability to hit any sort of shot. Midrange jumpers, hook shots from the paint, 3-pointers, all bounced off the rim or completely missed it.

Even Flames superstar McGhee wasn’t immune to a rough shooting night — if anything, he was even more susceptible. Somehow McGhee, who scored 35 in the team’s previous game, also against Queens, appeared unable to make any shot he took. He ended the first half 0-9 from the field, 0-7 from beyond the arc and 0-1 from the charity stripe, for a total of zero points.

The Flames, however, pushed through the rough shooting night and were able to end the first half with a slim two-point lead over the Royals. Preston was vital to keeping Liberty in the game, scoring 10 points straight for the Flames over a five-minute period near the end of the half. Freshman point guard Colin Porter also played a part in keeping the score where it was, as he was able to break a 24-point tie with a heavily contested layup with a mere two seconds remaining in the first 20.

The Royals started the second half down two, but they would go up five within the first three minutes. Most of that lead can be credited to the four free throws the Royals made of the five they were awarded, much to the chagrin of a very vocal Liberty student section.

The officials and their calls, and the Flames’ fans disapproval of them were on full display for the following few minutes of regulation. Over the next four minutes, the Flames sent the Royals to the free throw line for six shots, which helped Queens push their lead to six with 13:30 left to go in the Flames season.

But that lead of six would be the largest the Royals would boast in this game, and it would be the beginning of the end for them. A key 3-pointer from Rode cut the Queens lead to just three.

After that the teams would battle back and forth, until, while down three, the Flames forced a Queens shot clock violation. The crowd roared as Liberty got the ball back and walked it down the court, and then it happened. McGhee hit his first 3 of the game, and the arena shook.

After that, all the Flames had to do was let the earth-shattering roars of the Liberty faithful power their approach as they pulled away from the Royals.

More than just roars, boos littered the air in Liberty Arena. With just over five minutes to go in the game, and with the Flames lead sitting at six, Royals senior guard Kenny Dye was awarded a technical foul for an altercation with Flames’ sophomore guard Joseph Venzant.

“I’m straight,” Venzant said with a smile, implying that his altercation with Dye was behind him.

Dye, who had been heavily defended by both Venzant and junior guard Isiah Warfield, was limited to just nine points and 3-11 from the field. He did lead the game in a different statistic however: boos. Every time he would touch the ball for the last five minutes of regulation, Dye would have to endure a chorus of boo birds in the Liberty stands.

“Kenny Dye is a special player,” McKay said. “The things he does for their team is not unlike what (McGhee) does for ours, not only in scoring prowess, but he is also a terrific creator. He’s definitely an all-conference guard, so credit to (Venzant) and (Warfield), and (McGhee) and (Porter) too that we were able to make it tough for him.”

Speaking of McGhee, after his two made 3s this game, he now sits third all-time in NCAA made 3-point field goals with 505 made 3s. Before the game, he was fourth all time behind Oakland University’s Travis Bader.

The Flames went on to blowout the Royals and take the win by a score of 73-53. The win is their 24th of the season, pushing them to 24-7 and securing the Flames spot as ASUN regular season champions.

“I don’t think we’ve cut down the nets after a regular season championship, so it was neat to be able to do that in front of our fans,” McKay said. “I felt like our guys battled long and hard to get back to that space, and we did.  (We) feel really blessed to be able to do that.”

After an incredible season, the Flames end the year as the No. 2 seed in the ASUN conference, and they will be the two seed in the upcoming ASUN championship. They are just three wins away from lifting the ASUN champion trophy, the first of which they can get on their home court Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The Flames will play the winner of the matchup between the seven and eight seeds, North Florida and Bellarmine whose game will take place in Liberty Arena on Monday night, past press deadline.  Liberty is 3-0 against those teams this season, with two wins coming against Bellarmine and the other against UNF.

If the Flames win, their next matchup will Thursday night on their home court, with their opponent and game time yet to be determined.