LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Darius McGhee and Kyle Rode combined for 46 points in leading Liberty to a 70-53 victory over the Bellarmine University men's basketball team in an ASUN opener Thursday in Freedom Hall.

The two-time reigning ASUN Player of the Year, McGhee entered the game ranked 14th in NCAA Division I history in career 3-pointers, and the senior guard moved up the charts after sinking 8-of-15 from deep for Liberty (10-4, 1-0 ASUN) as all 24 of his points against Bellarmine (5-9, 0-1) came via the three-ball.

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Rode hit 10-of-16 shots in accounting for 22 points for Liberty, which shot 53.8 percent from the floor for the game and, behind McGhee, drained 12 3-pointers. The Flames built a 35-24 lead at halftime and responded to multiple Bellarmine runs in the second half by shooting 56 percent in the final stanza.

"They were better than us today," Knights Coach Scott Davenport said. "Our level of respect for them is amazing."

McGhee hit a pair of circus shots on shot clock-beating 3-pointers, one where he tossed in a rainbow off an almost shot-put motion and another where he released it with his left, ordinarily non-shooting hand. He scored 15 points, all off 3-pointers, in the second half.

Senior guard Garrett Tipton scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half for Bellarmine. Freshman guard Ben Johnson tallied 14 points and freshman guard Peter Suder added 12 along with a team-best six rebounds. Senior guard Juston Betz distributed a game-high six assists for the undermanned Knights.

"It's the most challenging stretch I've ever coached," Davenport said in regard to several major injuries the team has suffered this season.

Both teams came out ice cold, combining to go 0-for-11 to start the game, but they both got untracked offensively, with Johnson providing Bellarmine another big spark off the bench. His jumper cut Liberty's lead to 19-15 with 8:30 left in the first half, but the Flames followed with a 10-0 run that helped stake them to the 35-24 halftime advantage.

"We're down 11 and it should have been a five- or six-point game," Davenport said. "We missed a lot of great looks in the first 10 minutes of the game."

McGhee opened the second half by burying a pair of 3-pointers and added a third less than four minutes into the stanza as Liberty's lead swelled to 19. Tipton and Johnson did the heavy lifting in a 13-3 push that sliced the deficit to nine with 10:20 left, but Liberty answered with a game-clinching 11-0 run to increase the lead to 20 with less than six minutes remaining.

Liberty committed only five turnovers while Bellarmine registered 13. The Flames had a 13-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

"My biggest concern is our turnovers," Davenport said. "That's our biggest issue."

Bellarmine will play an ASUN contest at 7 p.m. (ET) Monday at North Alabama.

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