By Mike Maltais
In the Christmas spirit of receiving and returning, the Liberty Bell High School varsity boys’ basketball team took a win from the Okanogan Bulldogs junior varsity at the two-day Tonasket Christmas Tournament Friday but gave it right back to host Tonasket on Saturday.
Liberty Bell led Okanogan from the opening quarter and never looked back as the Mountain Lions built a 15-point half time advantage to a 26-point advantage by game’s end.
“The guys, overall, played well with the exception of a two-minute stretch before the half and about another one-minute stretch in the third quarter,” said coach Kyle Acord. “Besides that I was pleased with the entire team effort as 10 of 11 players got in the scoring column for us.”
The coach also pointed out that Okanogan’s JV team was filling in at the tournament for a late cancellation by a west side team that Tonasket had originally scheduled to play.
Liberty Bell vs. Okanogan JV
LBHS 17 18 18 12 – 65
Okanogan 9 11 11 8 – 39
Pts/Rebs/Steals/Assts
Austin Watson 14-1-2-4
Jaymis Hanson 11-5-4-3
Willy Duguay 10-5-5-2
Garrett Dornfeld 9-0-0-0
Connor Cooley 7-9-2-0
Micah Klemmeck 5-4-1-1
Cesar Dominguez 3-4-5-3
Morgan Ott 2-2-1-1
Liam Daily 2-4-0-1
Jorge Lara 2-2-1-1
Daniel Sonnichsen 0-3-1-0
Tonasket takes it
Senior ball-handler Jaymis Hanson dumped in 16 points and Liam Daily pulled down seven rebounds, but a third-quarter lapse by Liberty Bell combined with 11-for-16 shooting by Tonasket from the fourth-quarter foul line was enough to give the Tigers a 10-point margin, 53-43, in Saturday’s playoff game.
Acord described the contest as “a tough, physical match-up” that was anybody’s to win in the absence of a couple of key game-changers.
“It was a tight ball game most of the way with the exception of about a four-minute stretch in the third quarter where we were unable to execute offensively and fell behind by seven points,” Acord said. “Then Tonasket hit a three-point shot early in the fourth quarter to take a 10-point lead.”
The Mountain Lions rallied, however, and closed the gap to four points with two minutes left on the clock. That’s when the Tigers unwrapped their free throw surprise and pumped in another 11 points from the foul stripe to ice the victory.
“I thought that Cesar Dominguez played well for us, and I was pleased with the play of the guys coming off the bench, particularly sophomore Micah Klemmeck who saw his first varsity action,” Acord said.
Liberty Bell vs. Tonasket
LBHS 9 13 4 17 – 43
Tonasket 11 10 12 20 – 53
Pts/Rebs/Steals/Assts
Jaymis Hanson 16-2-3-2
Liam Daily 8-7-2-3
Willy Duguay 7-2-2-3
Micah Klemmeck 4-1-0-1
Jorge Lara 3-2-1-2
Connor Cooley 3-5-0-1
Cesar Dominguez 2-3-3-3
Austin Watson 0-0-1-1
Garrett Dornfeld 0-1-0-0
Morgan Ott
Daniel Sonnichsen
The Mountain Lions will be on the road to Entiat Friday (Jan. 3) for a 7:30 p.m. game against non-league Entiat. On Tuesday (Jan. 7) a long bus ride will stop at Kittitas for a league contest against the Coyotes of the Central Washington 2B South division.
