The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Liberty Flames came into the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase as the tournament favourite and the defending A-Sun champion lived up to their top billing.

The Flames dominated the competition over the course of the three-day event and took the 2019 title with a 62-49 win over the University of Missouri - Kansas City Roos in the finale Sunday night at the Baha Mar resort.

Liberty remains undefeated on the season and improved to their first 8-0 start in school history and they became the first team to reach eight wins this NCAA season.

Flames Freshman Kyle Rode was named tournament MVP and was joined by teammate Scottie James on the All-Tournament Team.

Kansas City was led by their own All-Tournament selection, Rob Whitfield, who led the tournament in scoring.

The remainder of the field included George Washington (A-10), East Carolina from the (American Athletic Conference), Rice (Conference USA), Evansville (Missouri Valley Conference), Milwaukee (Horizon League), Morgan State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference).

Liberty defeated East Carolina 77-57 in the tournament’s “campus game” in Greenville, North Carolina before the venue shifted to the Bahamas.

Once in the Bahamas, they defeated the field by an average of 22 points per game.

The Flames opened with an 89-48 win over Morgan State, followed by a 71-59 win over Rice in the semi-final.

“We had a really short bench and we had guys play a lot of minutes. I am really proud of our effort because to play the way our guys did for 40 minutes against a really good team who is terrifically-well coached and in your third game in three days and eighth game in 17 days is taxing on the body.

“Our guys did a really good job,” said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay.

Despite the impact of Hurricane Dorian, the partnership between bd Global Sports and the Baha Mar Resort produced an initiative to relocate the tournament from the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium to the resort and its new court constructed in the New Providence Ballroom.

The Showcase is an event that caters to non-‘Power Five’ teams in an effort to schedule quality opponents early in the season. It traditionally creates nearly 2,000 room nights, creating a significant economic impact to the country’s sports tourism product.

In its first two years, The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase included NCAA Tournament mainstays Vermont, Northern Kentucky, Iona and Montana in its fields with each of those teams making NCAA Tournament appearances since 2017.

The resort also played host to the Memphis men’s basketball programme in August, as it played games there on a foreign exhibition tour.