By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity boys’ basketball team locked up top billing in the Central Washington B League North with a key win at Lake Roosevelt, 65-52, following a earlier 45-31 home victory over Manson last week.
The 8-2 Mountain Lions have one league game remaining against Oroville before Liberty Bell enters district play in Wenatchee on Feb. 19 as the No. 1 seed from the CWB North.
Manson misfires
Even though it was a road game for Manson, the Trojans put up a better fight against Liberty Bell than the last time the two teams met at Manson on Jan. 17. In that first game the Mountain Lions held the Trojans to single-digit scoring in every quarter and ended the contest with a 27-point margin.
Manson got off to another slow start against the Mountain Lions on Feb. 4 as Liberty Bell took a 14-point lead into half time. The Trojans managed to match Liberty Bell point for point through the last two quarters of play, giving Liberty Bell a 14-point, 45-31 win.
Cesar Dominguez with 10 points and Jaymis Hanson with nine led the Lions’ scoring. Hanson and Liam Daily pulled down seven rebounds apiece.
Liberty Bell vs. Manson
LBHS 15 9 10 11 – 45
Manson 4 6 9 12 – 31
Pts/Rebs/Steals/Assts
Cesar Dominguez 10-6-1-1
Jaymis Hanson 9-7-3-1
Morgan Ott 8-2-0-0
Liam Daily 7-7-3-2
Austin Watson 7-1-2-1
Willy Duguay 3-5-1-3
Daniel Sonnichsen 1-2-2-0
Jorge Lara 0-2-1-0
Raiders rally too late
A game that was anticipated to be a close one, based on a battle to the wire in the first meeting between Lake Roosevelt and Liberty Bell last Jan. 21, turned out to be a Mountain Lions rout in the first half of play last Friday.
Behind the scoring of Logan Szafas and Hanson, with 18 and 16 points respectively, Liberty Bell took early control of the game with 33 points through the first two quarters while the Raiders were held to just 14.
That 19-point first-half lead managed to hold off the second-half surge by Lake Roosevelt, as the Raiders put together a fourth-quarter rally that outscored the Mountain Lions by nine points but was too little, too late as “good free throw shooting in that quarter (10 for 13) helped stake us to the 13-point victory,” said coach Kyle Acord of Liberty Bell’s 65-52 win.
The win “clinched first place in the CWB League North division and a No. 1 seed to the district tournament in Wenatchee,” Acord said.
The Mountain Lions will play the No. 1 seed from the South division, which at this writing appears to be either Soap Lake, 8-0, or 7-0 Kittitas. Game time is 7 p.m. on Feb. 19 at Wenatchee High School.
Liberty Bell will host the Oroville Hornets on Senior Night Friday (Feb. 14) for its last regular game of the season.
Liberty Bell vs. Lake Roosevelt
LBHS 16 17 18 14 – 65
Lake Roosevelt 5 9 15 23 – 52
Pts/Rebs/Steals/Assts
Logan Szafas 18-7-3-3
Jaymis Hanson 16-5-2-3
Liam Daily 8-4-3-5
Austin Watson 7-2-0-2
Jorge Lara 7-2-2-0
Willy Duguay 6-10-1-0
Cesar Dominguez 3-3-0-0
Daniel Sonnichsen 0-1-0-0
Morgan Ott
