It was senior night for the Liberty Lions as they dominated the Antioch Panthers 84-54 in the Lions’ Den on Feb. 2.
Going into the game, the Lions were without starting point guard Quinton Bundage, who had injured his knee in their game against Pittsburg on Jan. 26. Head coach Jon Heinz said he does not want to rush his point guard back and said it was possible he rests for the remainder of the season until playoffs start.
With it being senior night, Heinz changed his lineup to start five seniors. His first players to come off the bench in the game were also seniors as he tried to give his seniors as much playing time as possible.
“We didn’t stick to the game plan at first; we didn’t really do our jobs,” Heinz said on the team’s performance in the opening quarter
The Lions started slowly but managed to lead 26-19 after the first quarter. Forward Ethan Wasem and guard Julian Costa both had big opening quarters as they each hit multiple three pointers to lead the Lions.
However, the Lions started to pull away in the second quarter, outscoring the Panthers 25-9. This continued in the third quarter as the Lions led 71-39 after three quarters.
The Panthers struggled against Liberty’s trap scheme all night, which resulted in Antioch forcing bad shots and turning the ball over several times. The Panthers scored just 20 combined points in the second and third quarters,
“I thought the second and third quarters, we were outstanding,” Heinz said on his team’s performance.
The large lead allowed for some of the Lions’ younger players to get more playing time than usual. Sophomore Alex Zenn Dash played the majority of the third and fourth quarters.
“It felt good,” Dash said, “I finally got to get in the game and show off what I can do.”
In the fourth quarter, the Lions ended the game sloppily, turning the ball over several times against Antioch’s full-court press and trap defense.
“There’s guys in there that don’t get a lot of playing time, so it’s different playing in front of a crowd. Some of these young guys, it’s good for them getting experience, and you have to learn from your mistakes sometimes,” Heinz said.
Despite a sloppy end to the game, the Lions still managed to blow out the Panthers by 30 points. With the win, the Lions improve to 8-0 in the Bay Valley Athletic League and are guaranteed to at least share the league title. The Panthers drop to 2-6 in league and are guaranteed to finish below .500 in league play.
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