Liberty got where they wanted to go, but it took them awhile to get there.
Despite trailing for much of the game and by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter, the Falcons adjusted, persevered, and ultimately overcame Lakeridge to defeat the visiting Pacers 67-63 in the opening round of the state playoffs on Tuesday night, Feb. 27, at Liberty High School.
“It’s less about getting the win and more about how we got it,” Liberty head coach Mike Gregory said. “Obviously, it means a lot, but we expected to win this game. It’s kind of been in our DNA to stick through games when were down or up just a little bit, but the fact that we were able to do that with a good team and when we were behind the whole game, just speaks volumes about this team’s persistence.”
And they needed every bit of it because for the bulk of the first three quarters it was Lakeridge that dictated the action, riding the hot hand of senior Luke Womack who finished the game with 20 points.
“To be honest, that was our game,” a dejected Womack said. “We were up the whole game, we had their number, I don’t know what happened. We just kind of fell apart.
“I think we had what it took to keep going and advance, but it just wasn’t our day.”
Womack scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half, then scored four more quick points in the third quarter before picking up two quick fouls. But it was when he tallied two more fouls and was forced to the bench early in the final stanza that things changed.
Liberty’s Tyler Bradford—who too fought foul trouble for much of the night—took over the game in Womack’s absence, scoring 10 of his team’s next 12 points and turning a seven-point Falcons deficit into a 54-54 game with just over four minutes to play.
“When I went to the bench in the fourth, I trusted my guys,” Womack said. “I knew we had another guy coming in who could do his thing, but I was kind of hot and with me coming out, we just kind of lost some energy.”
Bradford said little about what Womack’s absence meant to his team’s run, but pointed more so to the adjustment he and his coach made to combat the Pacers’ man-to-man defense.
“We went to kind of a different plan,” Bradford said. “Instead of our point guard, it was me bringing the ball up and we went through a couple different actions to get me going straight downhill, and we had a lot of success.”
Gregory said he thought their late game success had a little to do with their adjustment, but more than that thought the credit should go to his star player that—for at least four straight minutes—put his team on his back.
“Tyler (Bradford) earned that Player of the Year award tonight,” Gregory said. “He did a great job of just being patient, especially after those early fouls. And I thought that after we adjusted for their zone, guys really stepped up.”
The Falcons didn’t let up after tying the game either, and in fact continued forcing the action to the tune of what would be a 21-3 run, putting Liberty on top 65-54 with just under a minute to play.
Lakeridge would go on to make a final run over the game’s last 35 seconds, even pulling within 66-63 with 13 seconds remaining thanks to seven late Nick Ghetie points. But Donovan Crowder’s free throw with five seconds left iced things for the Falcons, leaving the visiting Pacers shaking their heads regarding what could’ve been.
“They’re a good team,” Womack said. “They’re No. 6 for a reason, but I feel like we were the better team overall.
“When I saw the rankings, we all had the mindset like we didn’t care,” Womack said. “We saw our matchup, Liberty, and we were like let’s go. We loved it. We saw our next game and had a vision of going to the Chiles Center, and you know, tonight we just fell short.”
That they did.
And Liberty? They survived and advanced to a second-round matchup with Grant scheduled for a yet-to-be-determined time on Friday, March 1. But until then, the Falcons are going to enjoy a win they’ve been looking forward to since last year’s season ended in the playoffs’ first round.
“This was huge,” Bradford said. “We’ve been waiting and waiting a long, long time for this.”
Liberty scorers included: Bradford 24, Kefgen 17, Crowder 13, Streeter 8, Womack 2.
Lakeridge scorers included: Womack 20, Ghetie 16, Holum 8, McCarty 3, Faucher 3, Gjesdal 3, Napierala 3, Clarke 2.
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