LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Bellarmine University saw its 10-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon as the visiting Liberty Flames took a 94-78 victory in front of a national ESPNU television audience and a COVID sellout crowd of 2,737 in historic Freedom Hall.
 
The Flames were sizzling from long range, hitting 15 of 25 3-pointers and converting 62.5 percent overall from the field.  Individually, Liberty's Darius McGhee was practically unstoppable, dropping 34 points while drilling eight of 11 from long range.
 
The Knights were also impressive offensively. Bellarmine shot 56 percent from the field but managed just three of 11 on triples.
 
The victory gave Liberty the regular season ASUN Conference crown with an 11-2 league mark.  The Knights had to settle for second place in the final ASUN standings at 10-3. The runner-up finish represents a much better showing than what was predicted for Bellarmine as the preseason ASUN Media Poll had the Knights ninth while the coaches' poll picked Bellarmine eighth.
 
"That was two really good college basketball programs playing in a great atmosphere," Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said in his postgame comments. "That's some really good college basketball, and don't say it was a lack of defense, because everybody was fighting with everything they had. "
 
Davenport said the last few minutes of the of the first half was a crucial segment of the game.  During the final 4:54 of the opening period the Flames extended a 31-27 lead into a 52-35 halftime cushion.
 
The other major factor that Davenport pointed to was Liberty's guard play. "Their backcourt quickness caused us problems we haven't seen," he said.
 
The Knights (13-6 overall) were paced by junior Pedro Bradshaw who dropped in 20 points and hauled in four rebounds and came up with four steals. Dylan Penn also had a solid night with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting while dishing out four assists.  The third member of Bellarmine's backcourt also reached double digits as CJ Fleming finished with 16 points. 
 
Although Liberty (20-5) got a big game from McGhee, four more Flames reached double digits with Chris Parker adding 19, Eilijah Cuffee scoring 12, Shiloh Robinson tallying 11, and Kyle Rode just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine assists.
 
The "COVID sellout"  (15 percent capacity) at Freedom Hall marked the biggest crowd of the season at Bellarmine, and Davenport was appreciative. "On behalf of our players, we appreciate it…cheering for these guys really means so much to them…it means much to the entire university. Thank everybody!"
 
Bellarmine now heads to the ASUN Conference Championship next week in Jacksonville, Florida. They'll be the No. 2 seed and open play with No. 7 seed Stetson at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 4.