WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

12/27 03:43 CST Liberty heads to Florida International for conference showdown Liberty heads to Florida International for conference showdown By The Associated Press Liberty Flames (8-3) at Florida International Panthers (7-4) Miami; Sunday, 2 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Flames -4.5; over/under is 149.5 BOTTOM LINE: Zach Cleveland and Liberty take on Corey Stephenson and Florida International in CUSA action. The Panthers are 7-1 on their home court. Florida International ranks fourth in the CUSA with 11.5 offensive rebounds per game led by Stephenson averaging 3.1. The Flames are 1-1 on the road. Liberty is fifth in the CUSA scoring 80.2 points per game and is shooting 53.2%. Florida International makes 46.7% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.1 percentage points higher than Liberty has allowed to its opponents (42.6%). Liberty averages 11.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.9 more made shots on average than the 8.6 per game Florida International allows. The Panthers and Flames match up Sunday for the first time in conference play this season. TOP PERFORMERS: Stephenson is scoring 18.1 points per game with 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists for the Panthers. Julian Mackey is averaging 15.3 points over the past 10 games. Brett Decker Jr. is shooting 52.2% and averaging 17.8 points for the Flames. Kaden Metheny is averaging 14.0 points over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 6-4, averaging 86.2 points, 34.1 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 10.6 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.0 points per game. Flames: 7-3, averaging 78.4 points, 27.5 rebounds, 17.6 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 52.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.1 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.