Parents night inspires Leopards

Brookfield stayed in the game the first three quarters behind guards Kevin Martin and Billy Hogue.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LIBERTY -- One night after the Liberty High boys basketball team was eliminated from the Trumbull Athletic Conference championship race by losing to LaBrae, the Leopards (14-5, 9-4) turned their fortunes around with a 63-49 win over Brookfield.
"This was an important win for us," said Liberty coach Burt Stellers. "It ended a two-game losing streak and gives us some momentum heading into Friday's game with Lakeview."
Lakeview clinched a tie for the TAC-8 title Tuesday night in a win over the Warriors.
Senior Mychal Doblanski led the Leopards on "Parents Night" with a performance that was typical of his play all season long.
Excellent effort
Doblanski scored a game-high 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and added four steals and two assists. The point guard literally took over the game for Liberty in the fourth quarter when he tallied 12 points as the Leopards outscored Brookfield 19-7 to pull away for the win.
"Mychal's a great player," said Stellers. "He's so unselfish. We moved him to point guard tonight to get the ball in his hands more and I think he'll stay there the rest of the season.
"He's been a joy to coach and just busts his tail out there the entire game."
Doblanski, who is averaging around 20-points per contest said that it was a great feeling to get the win for all eight seniors and their parents.
"This is a game that we wanted bad," Doblanski said. "Everyone did what they could to get this victory in front of our parents."
Doblanski said that he sensed the game was in his hands down the stretch.
"I felt like I could step up in the fourth quarter and take over," Doblanski said. "I wanted to be the leader."
Barker, Francis contribute
Liberty also got strong offensive efforts from Justin Barker and Brian Francis who scored 10 points each. Francis also grabbed nine rebounds.
While Doblanski was taking control on the offensive end, the Liberty defense finally asserted itself in the final period.
"We didn't play very well on defense the first three quarters," Stellers said. "At least we found a way to play well for eight minutes."
Liberty's pressure harassed Brookfield into 3-for-14 shooting down the stretch.
"We couldn't put the ball in the basket at the end," said Brookfield coach Tom Roskos. "Their defense is so quick and comes at you all night that I think we got a little tired at the end."
The Warriors (7-13, 4-10) stayed in the game the first three quarters behind the solid play of senior guards Kevin Martin and Billy Hogue. Hogue led Brookfield with 18 points while Martin knocked in 14.
"It was nice that our two seniors ended their seniors by playing well," Roskos said. "We didn't get the win but those two guys have been great for our program."
The Warriors will open tournament play against Struthers.