Liberty shakes Stuarts Draft
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Chris Lang / Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 25, 2008
BEDFORD - Liberty boys basketball coach Jeffrey Monroe could sense his team was going to struggle to find energy Monday night against Stuarts Draft.
The Minutemen were playing just three days after dropping a tough Seminole District championship game to Brookville. And five minutes before tipoff, the Liberty gym had all of the buzz of a weekday practice.
Still, the Minutemen summoned enough pep to fend off a pesky Stuarts Draft team, winning 63-57 to advance to a Region III quarterfinal game today at Harrisonburg High School.
"It's tough to really get your kids fired up for a Monday night game," Monroe said. "But I'll take the win."
Liberty (16-10) led for the majority of the game, but it couldn't put the feisty Cougars away. Every time the Liberty lead would approach double digits in the fourth quarter, Stuarts Draft hit a clutch 3-pointer or made a defensive play to stay in the game.
"We didn't play all four quarters like we should have," said Liberty guard Chris Harmon, who along with Boo Payne led the Minutemen with 18 points. "But we got the win, so it's all good."
Stuarts Draft had little answer for Payne, who effected every aspect of the game. Along with his 18 points, he had nine rebounds, blocked four shots and recorded three steals.
Payne, Liberty's main post presence, even hit a team-high two 3-pointers, as the Cougars elected to not defend him behind the arc.
"A lot of teams don't expect it," Harmon said. "It's a surprise for them. So they don't come out on him. He hits them most of the time."
Payne's first 3 of the game, with 1:34 left in the first quarter, gave Liberty the lead for good at 15-13. Payne's second 3 pushed the lead to 42-31 with 54 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Cougars kept fighting back.
They snuck within 52-48 with 3:05 left after a Quincy Diggs basket. But after a Stuarts Draft timeout, Harmon scored to put the Minutemen ahead 54-48.
After a Liberty foul and a subsequent SDHS free throw, Harmon scored again, this time converting a three-point play to push the lead back to 57-49 with 1:52 left, giving Liberty the cushion it needed.
Liberty made some defensive adjustments in the first quarter after Stuarts Draft burned the Minutemen several times with backdoor plays. Once Liberty's communication on defense improved, the Minutemen gained control of the game.
"We started talking on screens and switching on picks," Harmon said. "They were killing us on the backdoor, so we started talking on defense. That's all we had to do."
Rustburg 41, Alleghany 38
Blake Forslund sank a pair of free throws with six left in overtime to earn the Rustburg a spot in the Region III quarterfinals tonight at 7 p.m. against R.E. Lee. Antoine Davis led the Red Devils (18-8) with 20 points.
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