North Carolina-Greensboro (20-9) set a tournament record of just three turnovers. Liberty (17-12) struggled from 3-point range Saturday, hitting just nine of its tournament-record 30 attempts.
North Carolina-Greensboro -- the regular-season conference champion and top seed in the Big South -- moved into Division I in 1992. It is the first program in history to successfully make the complete shift from Division III to Division I in all sports.
"People do one of two things in a situation like this," Spartans coach Randy Peele coach. "There are those that can't handle the pressure, and then there are those who raise their level. I told the kids, 'Today, we're going to go out and raise our level.'"
Scott Hartzell scored 14 points for North Carolina-Greensboro, and his 3-pointer with 8:04 left put the Spartans up by 18 points. The Spartans made 20 of 27 free-throw attempts in the second half, 25 of 33 for the game.
Jeremy Davis added 12 points for the Spartans, Brian Brunson had 11 and Clifton scored 10. Peter Aluma had 14 to lead Liberty scoring, and Larry Jackson and Marcus White had 13 each.