By Mike Maltais
The Entiat Tigers took an early six-point lead over the Mountain Lions in non-league varsity basketball action at Entiat last Friday, but that was short-lived as Liberty Bell battled back for a one-point advantage by the end of the first quarter en route to a 70-53 victory.
“It took us a little bit to get going,” said coach Kyle Acord, “but from that point on, the guys played pretty well, particularly in the second and fourth quarters.”
Logan Szafas and Jaymis Hanson led the Lions in scoring with 24 and 20 points respectively, and Austin Watson added another 15. Top rebounders were Szafas with nine and Cesar Dominguez with eight.
Liberty Bell went to the halftime locker room with a comfortable 12-point lead and never allowed Entiat to seriously threaten for the remainder of the game. Entiat cut Liberty Bell’s lead to nine points by the end of the third period but then in the fourth quarter the Mountain Lions played some of their best ball, outscoring the Tigers 24-16 for a 17-point win.
The Mountain Lions were scheduled to travel to Kittitas on Tuesday (Jan. 7) for a game against the Coyotes. Then after more than a month on the road, Liberty Bell will host Riverside Christian on Saturday (Jan. 11). Play gets underway with the girls’ varsity at 4 p.m. followed by the boys’ varsity at 5:30 p.m.
Liberty Bell vs. Entiat
LBHS 15 18 13 24 — 70
Entiat 14 7 16 16 — 53
Pts/Rebs/Steals/Assts
Logan Szafas 24-9-1-1
Jaymis Hanson 20-1-5-5
Austin Watson 15-1-5-2
Micah Klemmeck 4-1-2-0
Liam Daily 2-2-1-1
Daniel Sonnichsen 2-2-0-2
Willy Duguay 1-1-2-0
Connor Cooley 1-2-0-0
Morgan Ott 1-0-0-0
Cesar Dominguez 0-8-1-1
Jorge Lara 0-0-2-0
Garrett Dornfeld