Gallery by Tina Laney
Liberty head boys basketball coach Chad Williams is no stranger to adversity.
After losing all-state guard A.J. Williams to a knee injury prior to last season, Williams saw the same situation play out Tuesday night when starting point guard and junior sharpshooter Ethan Williams had the same unfortunate incident.
Three days removed from losing Williams, Liberty welcomed red-hot Nicholas County to Glen Daniel Friday night.
Admitting after the game that he wasn’t quite sure what to expect from his team, coach Williams ended the night pleasantly surprised.
Playing with incredible energy, especially early, the Raiders trailed just once in a 70-65 win over the Grizzlies.
“We lost our point guard and one of the best 3-point shooters in the state. Tonight this group came out and looked like they had been playing together forever,” Williams said. “They ran the offense exactly how we wanted to run it and the defense was good. We had a couple of breakdowns, but for everybody to be figuring out a new role, I am very pleased.”
In a fast paced opening quarter, Liberty led 7-5 before a triple from Trey Stump gave the visitors their only lead of the contest.
When the first quarter horn sounded, the home team led 21-13.
“Our guys came out kind of lackluster and with not much emotion or energy. We dug ourselves a big hole,” Nicholas County head coach Brian Phipps said. “One thing I will say about my guys is they never, ever give up in any situation. We were down 12 late and cut it to five at the end. Maybe if we don’t dig that hole, the game is a different story.”
Liberty pushed the lead to 12 points on a pair of free-throws from Zach Bowman, but for the final five minutes of the quarter, the Raiders could not score.
Unfortunately for Nicholas County, which only surrendered four points in the quarter, it too was struggling to get the ball in the basket.
A bucket from Austin Altizer broke a five-minute scoring drought before Bryar Bailes went coast-to-coast for a traditional 3-point play.
Cole Brown’s drive with 1:31 to play in the opening half cut the deficit to 25-20 at halftime.
The Raiders started quick out of the break with a scoring drive from Connor Cantley who scored 15 points and gave the Grizzlies fits all night attacking the basket.
“Connor Cantley was just a beast tonight. He got to the basket pretty much anytime he wanted to,” Williams said. “The boys were like, OK, lets keep going to him. Not a lot of teams can say their team is that unselfish to take the back seat like that.”
A spin move in the lane by Zach Bowman for two of his 16 points on the night, made it a nine-point game as Liberty started to pull away.
The lead was 10 points entering the final quarter, but had it not been for the play of Isaac Miner, the Nicholas deficit would have been much worse.
The young sophomore kept the Grizzlies at arms length with 10 points in the third, scoring six straight over a one minute stretch late in the quarter.
“He is a sophomore that plays two quarters of JV. He still has some things to work on,” Phipps said. “He got called for three seconds in the JV game and then comes out and plays like that in the varsity game. He is so athletic and can jump out of the gym. He wants to learn everything and its starting to come for him.”
A corner 3-ball from Jalen Cook of an assist from Cantley gave Liberty a 51-38 lead with 6:40 to play.
“The one thing about this group that has been better than any group that I have every had is they have no quit in them and they have unlimited energy,” Williams said. “Unless somebody is actually physically hurt, they are giving you 110 percent. It is a good thing that we have a little more depth than what we are used to having because when you play that way, sometimes it bites and sometimes it doesn’t. We ran that fine line tonight with some foul trouble.”
A 3-pointer from Ethan Collins finally cut the lead back inside double digits with 1:27 to play before a pair of free throws from Bailes made it a seven-point game with 1:08 to play.
However, each time Nicholas County made a run. Liberty weathered the storm to extend the lead back to a comfortable margin.
“It took a couple of series sometimes, but they did a great job communicating to stop those runs,” Williams said. “It would look bad, then we would step up and fix what we were doing. I am probably happy that they self-fixed problems with communication tonight more than anything.”
Liberty made five of its six free throw attempts down the stretch to keep Nicholas County at bay.
“We got in foul trouble and didn’t shoot the ball well early. We didn’t shoot the 3-ball well all night,” Phipps said. “Our defense, because of the foul trouble, wasn’t near as good as it should be. It was one of those games that you learn from and move forward.”
Cook led Liberty with 18 points and Re’Sean Simms added nine. Bailes scored a game-high 21 points, while Miner ended with 14 and Stump scored 11.
Nicholas County (7-6) travels to Herbert Hoover Wednesday. Liberty (8-5) travels to Summers County Tuesday.
NC: 13 7 18 27 – 65
L: 21 4 23 22 – 70
Nicholas County Cole Brown 5, Bryar Bailes 21, Trey Stump 11, Ethan Collins 9, Isaiah Miner 14, Jaxson Morriston 3, Austin Altizer 2. Totals: 23 15-22 65.
Liberty
Kris Bowman 6, Jadon Acord 6, Jalen Cook 18, Zach Bowman 16, Connor Cantley 15, Rasean Simms 9. Totals: 24 17-29 70.
3-pointers – NC: 4 (Stump 2, Collins 2); L: 5 (K. Bowman, Cook 3, Z. Bowman)
