Over the course of four days in Hawaii, Liberty’s Darius McGhee went on a historical run, as he was named the Diamond Head Classic MVP, rewriting the record books, scoring the most points ever in the tournament and setting a new mark for most three-pointers made in the tournament. On Christmas Day the Flames gave BYU everything they had in the third-place game, but the Cougars came out on top 80-75.

First Half

After exchanging the lead back-and-forth in the first five and a half minutes of the game, BYU would go on a 13-1 run, jumping out to an early 17-9 lead. Liberty was able to respond with a 14-4 run to retake the lead with 5:33 left in the half. Liberty would hold onto the lead to go into halftime with a 33-32 advantage over BYU. Darius McGhee led Liberty with 10 points while BYU’s Fousseyni Traore led all scorers with 11 points.

Second Half

Despite making three fewer field goals in the second half than Liberty, BYU capitalized on offense from the free throw line, making 21-26 free throws in the second half that proved to be the difference maker. With just under six minutes left in the game, the Cougars would go on a 7-0 run to take a 66-58 lead, and BYU never gave up its lead after that. Liberty continued to make it a close game and came within three points (78-75) with eight seconds left in the game, but BYU was able to come away with the victory.

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