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Liberty gets the best of old rival Girard
By Jim Flick
GIRARD
When neighbors gather during the holiday season, the gatherings are usually congenial affairs, full of good cheer.
But that wasn’t true when the basketball teams from Liberty and Girard met Friday night for a hard-fought matchup between neighboring schools which are traditional rivals.
Liberty ran up an early lead and fought off Girard all evening, escaping with a 62-53 victory.
Liberty (4-2) was led by senior Jaylen Mann, who scored 20 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. David Hight, a junior, tallied 17 points while snagging 11 rebounds.
Sophomore Asim Pleas put 12 points on the scoreboard for the Leopards.
Leading Girard (2-3) was senior Doug Thomas, who scored 17 points and added 15 rebounds.
Michael Bornemiss, a senior, contributed 16 points, including a 3-point shot and 11 free throws. Sophomore Evan Standohar pitched in with 11 points.
Liberty out-rebounded Girard by a narrow margin, 40-38.
The Leopards led 20-10 at the end of the first quarter and seemed poised to pull away, but were never able to increase the lead.
“It was hard-fought game,” said Liberty coach Dan Bubon. “They came out very physical and we didn’t deal with it very well. They took us mentally out of the game for a while.”
“It was a physical game,” agreed Girard coach Norman Cubellis. “I thought our guys’ effort was great. They didn’t back down.
“You knew it was going to be physical, being a rivalry game. I was real happy with man-to-man defense, our effort.”
Liberty tied the score 8-8 halfway through the first quarter, and then outscored Girard 12-2 in the rest of the stanza.
When Hight netted a field goal in the final moments of the first quarter, he gave Liberty a 20-10 lead.
Girard battled back in the second quarter, out-scoring Liberty 10-9 in the second stanza, but trailing 29-20 at halftime.
The Leopards and the Indians fought dead-even in the third quarter, 17-17, and again in the fourth quarter, 16-16.
In the third quarter, Girard pulled to within six points of Liberty, 40-34, when Bornemiss launched a three-point shot. But Mann and senior Anthony Clinksdale fought back with field goals to put Liberty back in front by 10 points, 44-34.
The Indians pulled to within six points again in the fourth quarter, when Thomas sank a field goal.
But the Leopards again struck back quickly, this time boosting the lead to 11 points when Pleas sank a field goal.
Evan Standohar’s three-pointer in the final moments pulled Girard to within seven points, 60-53, but Mann scored the final points of the game.