Players of the Liberty High basketball team, from left Joshua Jefferson, Angelo Kambala, DJ Thomas and Aaron Price, take a portrait during the Las Vegas Sun’s High School Basketball Media Day at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, Nov. 1, 2021.
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 | 10:24 p.m.
The Liberty High School basketball team might not have won this type of close game at the beginning of the season.
The Patriots blew a 17-point lead in the third quarter tonight against visiting Durango in a playoff game, but didn’t panic under pressure and relied on senior post player Joshua Jefferson in a 73-68 victory to advance to next week’s state tournament.
Jefferson finished with 23 points, and at times, seemed unstoppable near the basket. After Durango evened the game at 59-all with about four minutes to play, Liberty called a timeout and dialed up a play for Jefferson for an easy two points.
Liberty went on to score another eight unanswered points to put the game away.
Liberty in the third week of December had a double digit lead against Bishop Gorman, but couldn’t hold on in a double overtime loss. The Patriots face Gorman on Friday for the Southern Region championship, and more than likely again Feb. 26 for the state title.
This time — as proven tonight — it’s a different, more seasoned Patriots squad.
“Earlier in the season we went away from what we do best,” Liberty coach Kevin Soares said. “Tonight we didn’t do that. We executed. We went and fed the post to our big fellas. That is our strength and that is what we did.”
Jefferson was a sophomore on Liberty’s 2020 team that was a few seconds away from a state tournament berth, but Gorman won at the buzzer to end the Patriots’ season. After the pandemic shelved the tournament last winter, earning a spot at this year’s event carried extra significance.
Liberty players stormed the court as the final buzzer sounded, and continued the celebration in the locker room.
“That was our goal from Day One,” Soares said. “We really wanted to do it for our seniors and send them out the right way.”
Despite picking up two quick fouls in the first quarter, Jefferson remained aggressive on the inside. The Liberty backcourt did the rest with guard DJ Thomas scoring 23 points and Angelo Kambala contributing 16 points.
Tylen Riley had a game-high 25 points for Durango in helping lead the comeback. Taj Degourville and Sterling Knox each scored 15.
Gorman, playing for its 10th straight championship, defeated Coronado 79-55 in the other class 5A game tonight. The Gaels are 28-0 and haven’t lost since January 2020.
Liberty came the closest in December before a late-game collapse. But as the Patriots showed tonight, this isn’t the same Liberty squad of a few months ago.
“We really grew a lot as a team this year,” Jefferson said. “We were put in the same situation in December and laid down. But today we maintained the lead and won the game.”
