Homesley, Baxter-Bell help Liberty beat Grand Canyon 70-61

Published

PHOENIX (AP) — Caleb Homesley had 13 of his 17 points in the second half, Myo Baxter-Bell scored 15, and Liberty used a 15-0 second-half run to pull away for a 70-61 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday night in the Jerry Colangelo Classic at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Elijah Cuffee added 11 points and Darius McGhee scored 10 for Liberty. The Flames (11-0) are off the best start to a season in program history and Ritchie McKay’s 300 career wins are the most by a Liberty coach since moving to Division in 1988.

Baxter-Bell made a layup that gave the Flames the lead for good with 9:55 left in the game and sparked the decisive run. Homesley followed with a dunk before Baxter-Bell added two free throws and a layup. After Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz made a 3-pointer, Baxter-Bell hit two more foul shots and McGhee capped the spurt with a jumper that made it 61-49 with four minutes to go.

Carlos Johnson hit a 3 to give Grand Canyon (4-7) a 49-48 lead with to 10:13 to play but the Antelopes didn’t score again until Isiah Brown made a layup with 3:44 remaining.

Brown led GCU with 16 points, Alessandro Lever added 14, Lorenzo Jenkins scored 13 and Johnson finished with 11.