Liberty County made 14 of 16 free throws down the stretch to hold off Region 2A-AAAA foe Richmond Hill 57-49 at home Tuesday night.
The win ended the Panthers’ two-game losing streak while evening Liberty’s regular season mark against RHHS at 1-1.
"We told them tonight after the game in the locker room that this is how we are supposed to play all the time. We hit free throws and played pretty good defense down the stretch," Liberty County coach Willie Graham said.
Graham was especially pleased with the effort his team made on defense by switching from man to zone to keep Richmond Hill guessing on offense.
region swing at 2A-AAAA sub-region leader Brunswick tonight and finish the week hosting Wayne County Saturday night.
"It’s going to be a tough week. But like I said, we are coming on slow and if we play our game that should give us an opportunity against Brunswick and Wayne County," Graham said.
Liberty County 57,
Richmond Hill 49
L 10|9|14|24-57
RH 11|8|11|19-49
Liberty- Melvin King 20, Michael Farrior 19, Tucory Rhodes 9, Shakur Cook 5, Travon Walthour 2, Sayvon Wilson 2, Chris Guilfo 2.
Richmond Hill- Alex Cruz 14, D’Angelo Johnson 10, Steven Williams 7, Brandon Jordan 7, Vernon Jackson 7, James Franklin 2, Spencer Buck 2.
Both teams spent the first minutes of the game probing each other’s defenses. Liberty’s Tucory Rhodes scored the game’s first points on a jumper at the five-minute mark. The Panthers added back-to-back buckets from Michael Farrior to take a 7-2 lead, but the Wildcats put their own run together and controlled the lead 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.
After a quick second quarter, Melvin King drilled a mid-range jumper to tie the game at 19-19.
The game remained tight in the third quarter but once the Panthers built a lead they were able to defend it.
"We played well tonight. We did give up a few shots on defense, but we also did a really good job of shifting defenses on their shooters. We aren’t going to come out and score a lot of points. The low 50s is about where we will be, we just need to make sure we play good enough defense to keep the other team in the 40s," Graham said.
King led all scorers with 20 points. Farrior added 19 and Rhodes finished with nine for the Panthers, who improved to 13-6 on the season and 3-3 in region play.
The Panthers continue their