LYNCHBURG, Va.—The Bellarmine men's basketball team's 2022-23 season came to an end on Tuesday night as the Knights ran into a red-hot Liberty squad and the host Flames ran out to a 76-56 victory in the ASUN Conference quarterfinals.
 
Three-time ASUN Player of the Year Darius McGhee was simply brilliant in the opening 20 minutes as he led Liberty to a 48-31 halftime advantage. His first half numbers were off the charts, hitting eight of 10 from the field including a 7-for-9 performance from the 3-point line.  He finished the first half with 26 points and five assists, meaning he contributed on 14 of the Flames' 17 first half field goals. 
 
As a team, the Flames made 71 percent of their shots to distance themselves from the Knights, who also shot well at 59.1 percent in the first half. However, nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes limited Bellarmine's ability to make a sustained run as Liberty ran out to a 17-point lead.
 
After the break, the Knights simply couldn't make a dent in the Liberty advantage.  Although the Flames cooled a bit, Bellarmine--playing its fourth game in seven days, simply ran out of gas, shooting just 37 percent in the second stanza to finish at 46.9 for the game.
 
Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport said McGhee's first half performance stood out among his entire coaching career. "I've never seen anybody shoot like that in a half of basketball in my life," he said, mentioning players that he coached or coached against such as Dwayne Wade and Allan Houston. "He (McGhee) was going sideways…we ran him; we bounced; we harassed him."
 
However, Davenport added that Bellarmine's biggest problem was turnovers.  "Our problem the first half was not (McGhee's) threes," he said. "It was our turnovers, and we got beat back door three times. We shot 59 percent and we're down 17."
 
McGhee finished the night with 29 points and six assists to lead the Flames, who improve to 25-7 and advance to the ASUN semifinals against Eastern Kentucky. 
 
Bellarmine (15-18) saw four players reach double digits.  Alec Pfriem led the way with 13 points while redshirt senior Garrett Tipton added 12 with Peter Suder and Ben Johnson chipping in 10 points apiece.  Juston Betz, who was the hero in last night's first round win over North Florida, hauled in six rebounds to lead Bellarmine on the glass.
 
Asked to reflect on the season during his postgame radio interview, Davenport spoke about the extraordinary year it was because of injuries, which included six surgeries.  Beyond that, the head coach recounted injuries to nearly every player on the team that knocked them out of practice or game time.
 
"Those players have gone through it," he said, "but they never complained, and they get to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. They're phenomenal young men, and I would not feel one bit different if we had won this game by 20."
 
Davenport also recalled a statement from Betz, who played in his final game after six seasons in the program.  "Juston framed it up, and this a tremendous, tremendous learning moment.  He said, 'In the last media time out, I was looking at minutes.  Everybody else is looking at years.  Appreciate the minutes.'"