Saturday, February 15, 2014
LIBERTY
Liberty seemed to have a problem with small numbers Friday night.
After its JV team scored just 19 points in a loss to Newton Falls, the varsity took the floor and scored just 12 points in the first half against the Tigers.
But the Leopards used that season-low halftime output as fuel in the second half to dump the visitors, 45-38, in an All-American Conference National Division game on the newly named Pete Prokop Court.
It snapped Newton Falls’ five-game winning streak and prepped Liberty (12-8), which has two regular-season games left, for the postseason.
Asim Pleas had a game-high 19 points for Liberty, while freshman Lynn Bowden had 11 points.
Before the game, Pleas was recognized for surpassing the 1,000-point mark in Tuesday’s win at Struthers. After Friday’s game, the 6-3 senior guard brought his high school career total to 1,027.
Newton Falls (11-9, 3-7) had its own problems with scoring as the Tigers went 0 for 11 from the field in the fourth quarter. Derek Walton’s free throw with 1:07 left in the game was the visitors’ only point in the final eight minutes.
Liberty coach Dan Bubon alluded to early fourth quarter back-to-back baskets by Leslie Carter and big points by Bowden in the final two minutes.
“He [Bowden] took the pull-up jumper that got us the lead [38-37], then he took a floating, left-handed layup when we had the lead, which he made. A lot of kids wouldn’t even attempt that, but he has a lot of confidence in himself.”
Carter, a 5-7 junior guard, opened the fourth quarter for Liberty by scoring all seven of his points on two quick baskets and two free throws to bring the Leopards within 37-36.
“This is a preview of what our tournament’s going to be like,” Bubon said. “As ugly as that was – and that was ugly basketball, no question about it - that might have been the best win we’ve had all year,” Bubon said, explaining that his Leopards managed to overcome lackluster play against a well-coached team.”
Because of Newton Falls’ swarming defense, Pleas said that ball-protection was paramount.
“They do a real good job with their full-court trap and their zone,” said Pleas, who was asked to give a reason for Newton Falls’ one-point fourth.
“It was defense that won us the game,” he said without hesitation. “We were rebounding instead of struggling as in previous games. But, tonight, it was kind of like a playoff atmosphere, so, after we got the lead, we were able to feed off the big plays by guys like Leslie [Carter] and Lynn [Bowden].”
Ozzie Hawkins and Jaden Walton had 14 and 12 points, respectivly, for Newton Falls and Hawkins also had five of his team’s 19 rebounds.
“I don’t think we played a very good game and I almost saw it coming,” Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach said of sensing the poor play.
“They beat us to almost all the 50-50 balls and there were so many loose balls and rebounds that we got our hands on, then lost when they came up with them. I thought we could have had a very big lead at the half, yet it was only 10 [22-12].You could sense that things weren’t going right.”
He didn’t blame the shortcoming on poor shot selection.
“O-for-whatever it was – a lot of those were good looks, but you’ve got to make those. We had a nice roll going into this [five straight wins], then were up at the half, but the way it ended was disappointing.”
Although he gave Liberty credit for effort and hard play, he thinks (Liberty coach) Bubon would agree that the Leopards didn’t have their best stuff, either.
“They made the tough plays down the stretch, but our guys didn’t step up when they really needed to. Tournaments are coming up, so you’ve got to be able to make those plays at that point in time [if you’re going to go anywhere in the postseason].”
Of the field goal-less fourth, he said, “We had good shots – it wasn’t like we turned the ball over 30 times; we had foul shots, we had shots in the paint, we had wide-open 3s, but they just didn’t go in.”
From the field, Liberty finished 16 of 51, while the Tigers were 13 of 45. Pleas and Dan Markulin had 14 and 13 rebounds, respectively for the winners.