The Mounties answered several MCA runs with streaks of their own, overcame numerous questionable calls and the foul trouble to key players that resulted from them and earned the hard-fought win behind 21 points from senior Luke Kreger and an eight point, 17 rebound performance from classmate Evan McTish. 

Among those rebounds were the 500th of McTish’s career, while Conner Lewis (6), Kreger (5) and Landon Mattern (5) all were strong on the boards for Liberty.

Meadowbrook started the game on a 12-4 run .. scoring half of their total points scored when NPL beat the Lions 50-24 back in December .. by the midway point of the first quarter. 

A McTish finish at the rim started a 9-1 run by NPL .. which included a Lewis baseline jumper, a Sudan Benner three and a Kreger floater from the lane .. and Liberty tied the game at 13-all with 2:15 left in the opening frame. 

MCA retook their lead with a bucket before McTish hit a pair of free throws and a Kreger drive gave the Mounties their first lead of the game with a minute left, 17-15.

A basket and a free throw for the Lions gave them back their lead before Brody Grinnell ended the first quarter with a basket and NPL led 19-18 after one.

Benner and Mattern each hit a free throw to start the second before MCA went on an 11-3 run to go up 29-24 with less than three minutes remaining in the half. Mountie sixth-man Benner .. getting early minutes due to Lewis’ three fouls in the first quarter .. scored the first of six straight by the Mounties and Kreger’s finish at the basket gave NPL back the lead at 30-29 with a minute and a half remaining until the break.

The Lions hit one of their 10 threes on the night to go back on top, but Kreger answered with a 3-pointer of his own as time expired and Liberty went to their halftime bench up 33-32.

Liberty started the third quarter with a short jumper from Grinnell and after a MCA score, Lewis grabbed a defensive rebound and found a streaking Kreger for a score and then hit a jumper before an MCA three made it 39-37 NPL.

Kreger scored five straight to give the Mounties an 11-5 start to the second half and a 44-37 lead, but a Benner bucket was the lone score in an MCA 9-2 run to finish the frame and the teams ended the third tied at 46.

The Mounties started the fourth with a 10-5 run and led 56-51 with five minutes left, and a Mattern three with just over three minutes remaining put Liberty up six at 61-55. Mattern finished with 12 points in the game .. 10 in the final quarter.

A McTish free throw sandwiched between four free throws and a basket by MCA left the Mounties up 62-61 with 30 seconds left. Mattern hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it a two-point game and Kreger grabbed the miss and found Mattern, who was sent to the line once again, with 14.1 seconds remaining. 

Mattern hit both this time and Liberty led 65-61. MCA hit their 10th 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with eight seconds left and Kreger was fouled and made 1-of-2 to provide the final. The Lions had a good look on the potential game-winner, but it was off the mark and Liberty escaped with the win.

In addition to the Mounties putting three players in double figures, Lewis and Benner each scored eight points and Grinnell added six in the semifinal win. 

North Penn-Liberty, now 16-9 on the season, will look to complete their defense of their first District title against top-seeded Sullivan County at a time and place to be determined.