Look at the line score for the Liberty Bell High School boy’s basketball game at Bridgeport last Friday (Jan. 25), and you’ll see that the Mountain Lions played the Mustangs even for three of the four quarters.
But during the other 8 minutes — the third quarter — Bridgeport outscored the visitors by 12 points, which was the margin of victory in the Mustangs’ 63-51 win.
The Mountain Lions matched their best offensive outing of the year.
“We played well for much of the night against Bridgeport,” Liberty Bell coach Kyle Acord said. “The difference was really just a two- to three-minute stretch in the third quarter where Bridgeport scored some quick, easy baskets. The guys played hard for the entire game, which was our goal after Tuesday night against Manson where we felt like we were only able to put together a good first half.”
Earlier in the week, the Mountain Lions lost at Manson, 58-24, after trailing by 10 at halftime. Lucaas Gonzalez-Ortega led Liberty Bell’s scoring with eight points and took down 10 rebounds.
At Bridgeport, Gonzalez-Ortega was again the top scorer with 17 points, matching his season high. He also grabbed a dozen rebounds for a double-double. Owen Hevly had an active evening with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Tyler Darwood added eight points and six rebounds, and Dusty Patterson handed out five assists.
The Mountain Lions were 2-11 in league play (3-14 overall) going into a home game against Soap Lake on Tuesday (Jan. 29). They travel to Lake Roosevelt on Friday (Feb. 1), then finish regular season play by hosting Oroville next Tuesday (Feb. 5), tipping off at 7:30 p.m.
Manson 58, Liberty Bell 24
Liberty Bell 8 7 7 2 24
Manson 12 13 17 16 58
Owen Hevly 6, Tommy Knox 0, Nolan Falcon-George 7, Dusty Patterson 0, Simon Studen 3, Lucaas Gonzalez-Ortega 8, Tyler Darwood 0, Shay Crandall 0
Manson JV 53, Liberty Bell JV 29
Magnus Treise 14, Logan Hall 8, Sebastian Kar 7
Bridgeport 63, Liberty Bell 51
Liberty Bell 11 15 11 14 51
Bridgeport 12 14 23 14 63
Owen Hevly 8, Tommy Knox 3, Nolan Falcon-George 5, Dusty Patterson 2, Lucaas Gonzalez-Ortega 17, Tyler Darwood 8, Shay Crandall 2
Bridgeport JV 57, Liberty Bell JV 48
Sebastian Kar 27, David Kominak 6, Alex Whites 6, Magnus Treise 5, Marshall Budrow 2, Eli Neitlich 2
Scoring after 17 games: Lucaas Gonzalez-Ortega 154, Dusty Patterson 106, Simon Studen 92, Nolan Falcon-George 91, Owen Hevly 91, Tyler Darwood 32, Deken Smith 27, Shay Crandall 26, Tommy Knox 20
