The Bellarmine Knights and the Liberty Flames meet Thursday in college basketball action from Liberty Arena. Bellarmine sits at 11-14 overall this year. The Knights beat Jacksonville State in their last game. As for Liberty, they’re 19-6 on the season and coming off a loss to Lipscomb. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Bellarmine Knights
Bellarmine kicked off the season on a shaky run, going just 6-10 over their first 16 outings. The Knights are 5-4 since then however, with wins over Jacksonville State, Florida Gulf Coast, Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State again.
In the Jacksonville State rematch on Saturday, the Knights were down 29-28 at the break. Bellarmine posted a 43-35 run from there however and won it 71-64. Ben Johnson was the leading scorer on 23 points.
Liberty Flames
Over on the Liberty side, they started out the season with a solid 12-4 record through 16 games. The Flames are 7-2 in the last nine, beating North Alabama, Jacksonville, Central AR, North Florida, Stetson, FGCU and Austin Peay.
Matched up against Lipscomb on Saturday, the Flames took a 30-30 tie into the second half. Liberty was outscored 39-34 from there and lost 69-64, however. Darius McGhee was the leading team scorer on 19 points and four rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with Liberty here. The Flames didn’t have a great second half in their last outing versus Lipscomb, but they’ve played well lately otherwise. Liberty had hit 66 or more points in their seven previous games before that loss. The last time Liberty saw Bellarmine back on December 29, the Flames secured a 70-53 win at Freedom Hall. Liberty scored 35 points in each half on the way to the victory, and they should post a nice total in this rematch as well. I like the Flames to power out a cover here and bounce back from the Lipscomb loss.