The Mounties fell behind by nine points early, took their first lead of the game with a minute left in the first half, went up by 13 during a high-scoring third quarter and fell victim to a 27-10 Sullivan County run to finish the game to take the loss.

Sophomore Landon Mattern led Liberty with a game-high 19 points .. including 17 in a third quarter where the teams combined for 46 points. 

After Sullivan County scored coming out of the locker room and took a 21-20 lead to open the second half, the Mounties went on a 24-10 run and led by 13 with less than two minutes remaining in the third. But the Griffins finished the frame with an 8-2 run to cut Liberty’s lead to seven, 46-39.

Evan McTish opened the fourth quarter with a finish at the rim and after a SC three, took a pass from Luke Kreger and put the Mounties up 50-42 with six and a half minutes left. But it was mostly Sullivan County the rest of the way, scoring eight straight points in just over two minutes of playing time to tie it up at 50-all with 4:14 remaining in the game. 

Mattern hit a free throw with under four minutes left and Kreger found Brody Grinnell for a breakaway after a steal to put Liberty up 53-50 with 3:39 left on the clock, but the Mounties would get just one more free throw .. from Mattern .. and the Griffins came up with multiple steals and converted enough into points to complete a huge comeback and claim the title. 

Kreger finished with 11 points in the loss, adding three assists and three steals, while McTish scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Sudan Benner scored eight points .. in two minutes during the second quarter on a pair of 3-pointers and a drive to the basket .. Conner Lewis had six points and 12 boards and Grinnell rounded out NPL’s scoring with two points. 

The Mounties, now 16-10, get to continue their season as they qualify for the Class A State Tournament with their runner-up finish in Districts. Liberty will face York Country Day, the runners-up in District 3, on Friday March 6th.

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