Leopards rally past Indians in AAC Blue

By Greg Gulas

sports @vindy.com

LIBERTY

Girard-Liberty boys basketball games historically are tightly contested affairs and Tuesday night’s game on the Leopards’ home court was no exception.

Dra Rushton scored a game-high 23 points and Daniel Banks added 13 as Liberty defeated Girard 59-56 in the All-American Conference, Blue Tier opener for both teams.

“Against Boardman we played as individuals and that hurt us,” Rushton said. “ In practice, coach [Dan Bubon] got us together, stressed playing as a team and tonight we relied on each other, looked for the open player and played as a unit.

“When we were down 10 points in the third quarter, we didn’t panic and just kept fighting back. Every game has a bunch of crazy runs and we felt like we would have one as well. Coach kept saying play hard and we’d eventually cut into their lead.”

The game featured six ties and 13 lead changes with 10 of those lead changes and four ties occurring in the opening half of play.

Rushton scored nine of his 23 points in the opening frame while Girard’s Anthony Graziano added eight of his 10 points in the first as the teams battled to a 13-13 deadlock. Durrel Richardson led Girard with 12 points, Mark Standohar and Mike Guyer each had 11.

A free throw by JaShaun Whitman midway through the second quarter gave Liberty (1-1, 1-0) a 20-17 advantage, but the Indians closed the half on a 12-6 run to build a 29-26 lead at intermission.

Banks contributed five of his 13 points in the period, including one of the five 3-pointers the team enjoyed in the game.

“The biggest adjustment we made from the first game was that we passed more offensively, settled down with our 3-point shots and kept a positive attitude,” Banks said. “This is a rivalry game so you know both teams were going to give it their best effort.”

Standohar’s bucket at 5:58 of the third period keyed a 7-0 run by Girard to start the second half, which enabled the Indians to open the game’s only double-digit advantage, 36-26.

Seven points by Banks helped Liberty close the period on a 15-8 run however, as the Leopards cut the Girard lead to 44-41 heading to the final quarter of play.

“We worked more of a half-court offense in practice since playing Boardman and that patience paid off tonight,” Bubon said. “We were able to get the ball to some new spots, used better passes and in the second half, made their defense work. It’s nice to be able to start league play by beating your rival. It was a hard-fought game on both sides.”

A Standohar bucket with 3:39 remaining gave the Indians their last lead of the game at 52-51. Whitman’s basket 81 seconds later gave Liberty the lead for good at 54-52 and the Leopards closed the game with an 8-4 run for their initial victory of the season.

“It’s tough to win when you have 19 turnovers. We just didn’t do enough to win tonight and didn’t do the little things that help win close games,” Girard head coach Craig Hannon said. “We’re an inexperienced team and we’ll only get better. This is a tough group that really works hard.”

Both teams struggled at the free-throw line with the Indians connecting on just 6-of-16 free tosses and the Leopards 22-of-36 attempts.