Shooting Dooms Vanderbilt In 61-56 Home Loss To The Liberty Flames

It had been eleven days since the Vanderbilt Commodores last faced an opponent on the basketball court, and it showed in a poor shooting performance in a 59-53 loss to the undefeated Flames of Liberty University inside Memorial Gym.

Vanderbilt finished the game hitting just 18 of 51 shots, for 35% while the visitors were only slightly better, managing to connect on 22 of 53 shots, good for42%

Myo Baxter-Bell, an imposing 6'5" 270 senior led the Flames with 18 points of the bench, followed by Caleb Homesley (14) and Elijah Cuffe (13) as the only Liberty players in double figures.

Once again, Aaron Nesmith led the Commodores with 19 followed by Saben Lee with 16 as only two Vanderbilt players managed double figures in the loss.

The first half was a back and forth battle as Liberty took an early lead at 21-17 before the Commodores mounted a comeback to take their first lead of the half when Dylan DIsu connected from long range to give Vanderbilt a 27-24 lead.

Liberty would once again retake the lead late in the half, using a 7 for 7 shooting streak before the Commodores ended the half with an 8-0 run, as Saben Lee and Aaron Nesmith connected on back to back triples and Lee capped the scoring with an emphatic, crowd-pleasing alley-oop dunk.

Vanderbilt connected on 12 of 25 shot attempts in the first half, good for 48.0% while Liberty managed just 10 of 23 for 43.5% in the half.

Nesmith led the Commodores with 10 first-half points, while Caleb Homesley matched Nesmith to lead the Flames with 10.

The Commodores 11-1 run over the final 2:56 of the half staked them to a 32-27 lead at the intermission.

The second half started just the way Stackhouse and staff had hoped, as Clevon Brown took a pass under the basket, scored, drew the foul and drilled the free-throw to increase the Commodores' advantage to 35-27 just seconds into the half.

Liberty would respond immediately, going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 35-35 while the Commodores went scoreless for over 4 minutes during the run.

Two Nesmith free-throws ended the Vanderbilt scoreless streak and gave the Commodores back the advantage 37-35 with 15;06 remaining.

Another scoring drought of over 8 minutes by the Commodores would allow the Flames to retake the lead 41-39 near the halfway mark of the half. It was the defense that kept the Commodores close during the scoreless run.

The scoreless stretch ended with a Nesmith three-pointer to cut the Liberty advantage to 43-41. The shot ended an 0-11 stretch from the field for Vanderbilt.

The two teams would trade the lead in the final seven minutes of the game before the Flames seized the lead for the final time with 3:57 remaining in the contest.

Georgie- Pacheco-Ortiz paced the Flames in the final moments with four of his 8 total points.

The Commodores take to the road as they travel to Phoenix on Monday and will face Loyola of Chicago on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 pm, CST.