Middle Tennessee men’s basketball (11-9, 5-4 CUSA) dropped a pivotal conference matchup against the Liberty University Flames (18-3, 9-0 CUSA) inside the Murphy Center, 81-65. The Blue Raiders went into the break trailing the Flames 43-29, and came out of the half with a renewed focus defensively. “We started defending their ball screen with a hedge as opposed to a switch once they had showed they were confusing a couple of our guys,” McDevitt said. The senior forward Cleveland contributed five of his 14 points to the effort to put the Blue Raiders away. The Blue Raiders will tip off against the Hilltoppers (11-10, 4-6 CUSA) at 3 p.m. CDT.