PREP BASKETBALL Niles holds off Leopards, 65-62

Liberty nearly had a half-court shot go in at the buzzer.
NILES -- Niles McKinley High had a double-digit lead at halftime, but Liberty, with a full-court defensive game, rallied to within a basket Thursday night, before the Red Dragons prevailed, 65-62, in a boys non-conference basketball game.
Liberty's Edward Kershaw put up a shot from just over the mid-court line that found board and iron, but didn't go in, as the final buzzer sounded.
Niles sophomore Sean Cleary, senior Jake Schimley and junior Andrew Cleary went 9-for-10 at the foul line in the final 1 minute, 15 seconds of the game.
A steal for a field goal and a free throw, then another field goal by Kershaw, a 6-foot-4 junior, and a putback by Donovan Fletcher, twice cut the Niles lead to two points, at 60-58 and then 64-62 with 6.4 seconds remaining.
Another Niles free throw set the stage for Kershaw's last-chance shot.
Coach pleased with first half
"We played well and did a lot of good things in the first half," said Niles coach Ron Price.
"We knew they were going to make a run, they did and we responded to it."
The Red Dragons caught fire with a 9-0 run from the 1:06 mark of the first quarter to the 6:43 mark of the second quarter, taking them from a 9-8 lead to 18-8. All the baskets in the rally were 3-pointers, Justin Shelton, Sean Cleary and Andrew Cleary.
Niles continued to widen its gap to a 35-19 halftime lead. The Leopards were just 5-for-23 from the floor, while the Red Dragons were 13-of-26 overall and 6-of-14 on 3-pointers.
"You just can't dig a hole like we did tonight," said Liberty coach Burt Stellers.
"We shot horribly in the first half and that created some problems," he added, "and Niles did a great job of penetrating and kicking the ball out for those 3-pointers."
Liberty comeback
From the onset of the third quarter Liberty applied full court pressure, and outscoring Niles 11-2, cut the margin to seven points, 37-30, with 4:20 remaining.
The Red Dragons, though, built the lead back to 47-36 entering the final period and a 3-pointer by Bill Frech made it 50-36.
After another Frech 3-pointer made it 56-44, Liberty, behind John Humphrey and Kershaw, began to cut into its deficit.
The Leopards went on a 9-0 run, thanks in part to four Niles turnovers, to make it a three-point game with 1:50 remaining.
Kershaw led Liberty (3-2) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Mychal Doblanski, a sophomore, had 15 points and Humphrey, a 6-2 junior, scored 11.
Niles improved to 3-4. Frech finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Joe Razano, another junior, had 14 points and was 4-for-5 on 3-pointers.
Frech helped the Red Dragons to a 32-27 edge in rebounds, but Niles committed 18 turnovers to the Leopards' 10.