FORT MYERS, Fla. – Liberty's Darius McGhee set an ASUN record with a 48-point effort to lead the Flames past the FGCU men's basketball team, 78-75, on Saturday night at Alico Arena. The loss dropped the Eagles to 11-7 overall and 1-3 in league play, while Liberty improved to 12-6 overall and 3-0 to remain atop the ASUN East Division.
 
"I thought we played well enough to give ourselves a chance to win tonight, but I think everyone saw why Darius McGhee was the Player of the Year in the league last season," said head coach Michael Fly. "There were a number of shots where we had some really good defense on him. So you have to tip your hat when you see an unbelievable performance like that. We made some mistakes at critical times and those are things we need to work on as we turn our focus Stetson."
 
McGhee's 48 points are an ASUN record for a conference game surpassing Parker Smith of UNF (vs. Mercer, 2/20/12) and Carl Brown of UALR (vs. Centenary, 2/9/89) who each scored 46 points. Chris Collier of Georgia State holds the overall single-game scoring record for the league with a 49-point effort against Butler on Jan. 2, 1991.
 
Only one other Liberty player scored in double figures Shiloh Robinson scored 16 points going 7-of-7 from the floor. Only three other Flames scored in the game.
 
FGCU was led by Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) who scored 23 points going 9-of-13 from the floor including five three pointers. Tavian Dunn-Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington HS/Akron/Duquesne) added 11 points, while Matt Halvorsen (Kingsport, Tenn./Christ School/Western Carolina) and Luis Rolon (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Central Pointe Christian Academy) each had 10 points. Kevin Samuel [Codrington Village, Barbuda/Redemption HS (Texas)/TCU] had a game-high 15 rebounds and narrowly missed out on a double-double as he scored eight points.
 
The Eagles led by nine at the intermission, 40-31, after using a 16-to-5 run to close out the opening stanza. Seven points from Catto along with five from Halvorsen sparked the run as the Flames led for the first 15 minutes of play.
 
Liberty opened the second half with 13 straight points from McGhee as the Flames erased the deficit to take a 44-40 lead on a three-pointer from the guard at 16:01 mark.
 
The Flames extended the lead to as many as seven, but a 10-to-2 FGCU run punctuated by a Rolon triple put FGCU back up 52-51 with 10:37 to go.
 
McGhee responded for the Liberty with eight quick points to reestablish the seven point lead over the next three minutes.
 
FGCU responded and took the lead again after back-to-back Catto triples going up 65-64 with 2:31 remaining.
 
Another eight point run by Liberty pushed the lead back to seven, 72-65, at the 51 second mark, but the Eagles were able to pull back within four twice. Catto's fifth three of the night made it a one possession game with 1.7 seconds left on the clock, but the Eagles were unable to force a quick turnover or foul to find a potential game-tying shot.
 
FGCU will hit the road for both games next week heading to Stetson on Tuesday and Jacksonville State on Saturday. The next home game for the Eagles will be Jan. 27 against Eastern Kentucky.
 
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COACH FLY
Michael Fly was introduced as the fourth FGCU men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2018. He had spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. In his time with the Eagles, he helped FGCU to a 200-140 record (.585 winning percentage), including six ASUN Tournament Final appearances, three NCAA Tournament victories, three ASUN Tournament titles and three ASUN Regular Season Championships, two berths in the NIT, a CIT appearance and a run to the Sweet 16. He has coached 13 all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant and one ASUN Newcomer of the Year in Schadrac Casimir. Of the top-10 players in career points at FGCU, Fly has helped develop eight of them, including all-time leading scorer Thompson (1,835). Additionally, the Kentucky alumnus has coached both the ASUN all-time assists leader Brett Comer (845; 24th in NCAA history) and FGCU all-time leading rebounder Chase Fieler (714).
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 87 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 25, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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