Liberty pulls past Struthers

Ed Kershaw scored 30 points for the Leopards.
By Chuck Housteau
Vindicator Correspondent
STRUTHERS -- Every time the Liberty Leopards needed a big basket in their game with the Struthers Wildcats, Edward Kershaw answered the call.
The 6-4 senior standout scored 30 points, including 10 in the third quarter when the Leopards (1-1) outscored Struthers 21-8 en route to a 67-56 win over the Wildcats in a non-conference matchup at Struthers Fieldhouse.
Kershaw was 12 of 22 from the field, made 5 of 6 free throws, grabbed seven rebounds and had three assists.
"Edward did a real nice job for us tonight," said Liberty coach Burt Stellars. "I think he was pressing early and had some early turnovers but he came on strong at the end and hit some big shots for us."
The Leopards, who were coming off a loss to Niles and still aren't in top condition because many of their players played on the football team, are beginning to round into shape and showed why they may be one of the top teams in the area.
Pulling away
At halftime the Leopards held a slim 33-29 lead before Liberty's athleticism and strong play on the boards helped open the lead on Struthers.
Liberty began the third quarter on a 16-4 run keyed by the strong shooting of Kershaw and several rebound baskets by John Humphrey.
Kershaw's basket at 2:10 of the of the period gave the Leopards a 49-33 lead.
Later in the quarter, Liberty junior Mychal Doblanski drilled back-to-back 3-pointers as Liberty pushed the lead to 54-37.
Doblanski finished with 15 points and Humphrey added 10.
Keeping it close
The Wildcats weren't about to hand the game to Liberty at that point and in typical Struthers' hard-nosed fashion, they made the game interesting in the fourth quarter.
Led by seven points by Chris Kadvan and six from Josh Vlosich in the fourth period, the Wildcats chipped away at the 17-point lead and trailed only by six, 62-56, on a basket by Matt Kukura.
Kadvan led Struthers with 15 points while Kukura finished with 14 points and Vlosich 12.
Liberty then regained control and knocked down 7 of 11 fourth quarter free throws to put the game away.
"Liberty shot the ball well in the third quarter," Struthers coach John Corey said. "We continued to battle back and played hard and that's a credit to our guys."
Corey said that the Wildcats did their best to shut down the Leopards' scoring threats but may have come up short.
"We knew that their offense runs through Kershaw and Doblanski, who are two of the best players in the area," Corey said. "We tried to pressure those guys.
"How well we did that I don't know, but that was our attempt."
Stellars said that it was nice to see his team do a good job with taking care of the basketball and rebounding the basketball against a good Struthers team.
"You always know that Struthers is going to come at you," Stellars said. "They pounded us and got after us even though they are somewhat undersized."
The Leopards outrebounded the Wildcats 48-29.