Liberty captures first win, defeats Champion, 56-53

Liberty executed well down the stretch and came from behind to win.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LIBERTY -- After going 0-3 through a brutal non-conference schedule, the young Liberty Leopards persevered for a 56-53 win over Champion Tuesday in the Trumbull Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
The Leopards, who opened the season with losses to Struthers, Canfield and Austintown Fitch, started four sophomores Tuesday. Liberty trailed by 12 at halftime, 32-20, and by three in the final two minutes, but executed down the stretch for the victory.
"I was very happy -- we hit our free throws down the stretch and created a couple turnovers, too," Liberty coach Burt Stellers said. "As a young team, we've made steady progress."
Rally at end: Liberty got back into the game with an 18-9 advantage in the third quarter to trail 41-38 at the quarter buzzer. The Leopards went ahead 45-43 with about five minutes remaining in the game -- their first lead since 4-2 -- on a basket by sophomore Joe Lopez.
Champion's Mark Kish, who led all scorers with 22 points, put Champion back on top, 46-45, with a 3-point basket, and his two free throws with 1:50 on the clock increased the Golden Flashes' lead to 51-48.
But sophomore Bradley Fletcher came up with a steal for Liberty and was fouled on a layup attempt. He made two free throws at the 1:33 mark to draw Liberty within one, then Mario Miller scored off an offensive rebound at 1:08 to give Liberty a 52-51 lead. Lopez followed with another steal and basket for a 54-51 advantage with 55 seconds left.
Champion's Kevin Stingel made two free throws with 36 seconds left, then Fletcher sank both ends of a one-and-one with 24 seconds to play to make it 56-53.
The Flashes got off three 3-point tries in the final frantic seconds but could not connect.
"They outworked us in the second half," Champion coach Jeff Rasile said. "They got too many offensive rebounds. If you don't box out, you don't win basketball games. We have no excuses, we should have won this game."
Flashes controll early: It looked like it would be all Champion early. Stingel and the Flashes (2-2) consistently broke Liberty's press and attacked the basket. Craig Allen scored eight points in the first quarter for Champion, mostly on putbacks or in 2-on-1 situations with Stingel.
"I think we went a little deeper on our bench in the first half," Stellers said. "I think fatigue set in a little bit with them. Plus, we were much more aggressive in the second half."
"We would have liked to have created more turnovers with the press," Rasile said. "But Stingel does such a good job. He and Kish are an outstanding 1-2 combination for them."
Kish's 22 points came on 8-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range. He also had eight rebounds. Allen contributed 10 points and five rebounds and Stingel had nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
Fletcher scored 14 points and had five steals for Liberty, and Jeff Schnall added 13. Chad Huston had 11 and Lopez scored eight. The Leopards had just four turnovers.