By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School varsity boys’ basketball team reeled off two more relatively easy victories last week on the strength of balanced scoring, productive passing and consistent defense.
The Mountain Lions traveled to Omak on Dec. 9 and put the game out of reach with a third-quarter burst that assured Liberty Bell’s 73-53 victory.
In their first league game of the season on Friday (Dec. 11), the Mountain Lions poured in 50 points and took a 30-point lead over Tonasket by halftime on the way to an 85-40 victory on their home court. “We got really balanced play from the whole team,” coach Kyle Acord said.
The wins put Liberty Bell at 1-0 in league play and 3-0 overall heading into this week’s games.
At Omak, Conner Cooley led the scoring with 21 points, followed by Andrew Reggiatore with 17 and Micah Klemmeck with 14. Cooley added eight rebounds, and Klemmeck picked off five steals.
Good ball-sharing was evident in the assist totals: Reggiatore and Ben Klemmeck each had five, and Chase VanderYacht accounted for six.
Four players scored in double figures for the Mountain Lions against Tonasket. Micah Klemmeck put up 30 points — many of them on fast breaks, Acord said — and added nine rebounds. Ben Klemmeck and Reggiatore each had 15 points. Cooley registered a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. VanderYacht added another half-dozen assists.
Acord said the big lead allowed him to give playing time to non-starters.
Liberty Bell traveled to Oroville on Tuesday (Dec. 15), and will host the powerful Brewster Bears on Friday (Dec. 18) at 7:30 p.m. Lakewood will visit Liberty Bell on Monday (Dec. 21) — the first day of the holiday break. The non-league game starts at 5 p.m.
