By Don Nelson
After absorbing a pummeling at the hands of league-leading Brewster last week, the Liberty Bell High School boys’ basketball team bounced back on the road against Bridgeport.
The Bears overwhelmed the Mountain Lions, 81-30, on Liberty Bell’s home court on Jan. 27. On Friday (Jan. 30), Liberty Bell turned a close first half into a rout with a 63-45 win over the Mustangs.
“We just couldn’t get much going against a very good Brewster team,” coach Kyle Acord said. “Brewster creates a lot of offense from their great defensive play, and was able to pull away pretty early.”
Brewster pressed early and effectively and made every shot difficult for the Mountain Lions while busting out to a 21-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Bears had extended the margin to 41-17.
In the third quarter, Brewster nearly equaled Liberty Bell’s game total with 27 points while the Mountain Lions put up 10. Liberty Bell managed just three points in the final frame.
Junior Micah Klemmeck scored nearly half the Mountain Lions’ points, with 14. Junior Ben Klemmeck added nine. The usually productive Connor Cooley was held to two points, but the junior grabbed eight rebounds.
The Mountain Lions found their footing again at Bridgeport.
“We may have started out a little sluggish, but after an adjustment in the second quarter with our defense, we were able to turn things up a bit, and in the second half started playing better basketball than we had the past two games,” Acord said. “That defensive play really sparked us. Micah Klemmeck had a great overall game, both offensively and defensively for us, but again, all eight guys made key contributions for us in a great team effort.”
Micah Klemmeck topped all Liberty Bell scorers with 23 points and picked off six steals, while Cooley was back in familiar double-digits territory with 13 points plus nine more rebounds. Senior Garrett Dornfeld added nine points and junior Andrew Reggiatore eight.
The Mountain Lions were scheduled to play another tough opponent, Okanogan, in their last regular season home game on Tuesday (Feb. 3). On Thursday (Feb. 5), Liberty Bell will travel to Omak, followed by an away game at Manson on Friday (Feb. 6). The district tournament will begin next Wednesday (Feb 11).
Liberty Bell vs. Brewster
Brewster 21 20 27 13 81
Liberty Bell 8 9 11 2 30
Points/rebounds/steals/assists
Jorge Lara 2 0 0 0
Ben Klemmeck 9 5 1 0
Jose Dominguez 0 0 0 0
Connor Cooley 2 8 1 1
Micah Klemmeck 14 1 2 1
Willy Duguay 1 2 1 2
Garrett Dornfeld 2 6 1 0
Josh Frey 0 2 0 0
Liberty Bell at Bridgeport
Liberty Bell 10 17 16 20 63
Bridgeport 10 14 7 14 45
Points/rebounds/steals/assists
Jorge Lara 2 3 2 4
Ben Klemmeck 4 3 2 0
Jose Dominguez 4 1 2 0
Andrew Reggiatore 8 1 2 3
Connor Cooley 13 9 4 2
Micah Klemmeck 23 2 6 2
Willy Duguay 0 2 2 2
Garrett Dornfeld 9 1 0 2
Josh Frey 0 1 0 0
Standings, North Central Washington 2B North
League Overall
Brewster 11-1 16-2
Okanogan 10-1 14-3
Lake Roosevelt 9-3 10-5
Liberty Bell 7-5 12-5
Oroville 4-8 6-11
Tonasket 3-9 6-11
Manson 2-9 7-10
Bridgeport 1-11 4-12
Source: cwbathletics.com
