Liberty tops FGCU 61-46 behind Pacheco-Ortiz

LYNCHBURG, Va. --

Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz hit 4 of 6 3-pointers and scored 16 points and Liberty held Florida Gulf Coast to 14 first-half points en route to a 61-46 win on Saturday night for its 11th straight home victory.

Caleb Homesley scored 14 points with seven rebounds and five steals for the Flames (21-3, 7-2 Atlantic Sun Conference), who held an opponent to under 15 points in a half for the fifth time this season. Scottie James scored 10 points.

Liberty scored 18 points on 12 FGCU first-half turnovers and outscored the Eagles 34-22 in the paint overall.

Jalen Warren scored 20 points for the Eagles (7-17, 4-5), who shot 40% (18 of 45) to Liberty's 50% (25 of 45). Zach Scott scored 10 points with eight rebounds.

The Flames improve to 2-0 against the Eagles for the season. Liberty defeated Florida Gulf Coast 59-46 on Jan. 2. Liberty faces Jacksonville on the road on Thursday. Florida Gulf Coast faces Stetson at home on Thursday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com