“We had a really good season,” says Liberty Head Coach Bear Mattison, “we wanted to be in the hunt for the small school title entering the last two weeks of the season and in the district championship game .. which we accomplished both.”

The Mounties finished the regular season 14-8, which included winning streaks of four and six games, after a 1-4 start.

“We started out a little slow,” says Mattison, “but we also played some really good teams before Christmas. I figured we would struggle at the beginning of the season .. with two returning starters, a senior who had limited varsity minutes and two sophomores as our starting five, I knew it would take some time for them to gel together.”

After a season-opening win over Montgomery, Liberty lost by five to eventual small school and Class 2A champs Northeast Bradford in the Montgomery Tournament final.. their first of three match-ups against the Panthers and a game that didn’t factor into the final NTL standings. 

The Mounties lost three more .. to Athens, Towanda and Muncy .. before doubling up 12-5 Meadowbrook Christian and thumping Northeast Bradford, 48-22, on the road. 

“We knew Northeast Bradford was going to be the team to beat in small school,” says Mattison, “We lost some large school matchups that they won that put us behind at the start of the season .. and then we beat them at their place .. which ended up being their only league loss of the season.”

Liberty went on an 8-1 run after beating Northeast Bradford .. winning by an average of 21 points .. with their lone loss coming to North Penn-Mansfield during the streak, but a 4-point loss to defending large school and Class 3A champs Troy and a 2-point loss to Northeast Bradford left the Mounties as the small school runners-up.

The Mounties went 3-1 to finish the season and fell to large school title winner Towanda in the first round of the Showcase to sit at 14-9 and the No. 2 seed in the Class A playoffs. 

After mercy-ruling Benton in the first round and edging Meadowbrook Christian 66-64, Liberty faced top-seeded Sullivan County in the final and fell 58-54 to the Griffins.

“I believe we exceeded expectations just playing in the championship game,” says Mattison, “Even though we came up a little short, we had a shot to win and that’s all I can ask out of the guys.”

Mattison’s two returning senior starters, Evan McTish and Luke Kreger, led the Mounties all season. 

McTish scored 14.6 points and grabbed 9.8 rebounds per game. With 17 games in double figures scoring and 15 games with double-digit boards, McTish finished with 12 double-doubles and added 2 steals per game with 14 blocked shots on the season.

“Evan came to play this year,” says Mattison, “After talking to coaches before or after games, their focus was on slowing “our big” down. Evan attacked the basket with a purpose and rebounded well. It was nice to see him get his 500th rebound.”

Kreger averaged 13.9 points a game .. finishing his Mountie career with 911 points .. and hit 34 threes, while adding 3.1 assists, 4.5 boards and 2.1 steals per game. He scored over 20 points seven times and hit double-digits in 19 games. 

“Luke had another great season,” says Mattison, “while usually drawing the toughest defender every game. He took over in the Northeast Bradford game that we won (23 points, 10 rebounds). He became a better shooter each year .. he could always attack the basket but with him being able to shoot threes really helped our offense.”

Senior Brody Grinnell (5.4 ppg, .8 spg, 2.8 apg, 2.4 rpg, 17-3s) and sophomores Conner Lewis (8.3 ppg, 10 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.1 spg) and Landon Mattern (8.3 ppc, 2.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.3 spg, 34-3s) rounded out Mattison’s starting five. 

“Brody Grinnell is a great defensive player,” says Mattison, “If we played man-to-man, he had their best player. In our zone press, he had the most runs/slides. It was good to see Brody become an offensive threat too. From someone who rarely scored in previous years, he drove to the basket well and shot the three well too.”

“Conner Lewis is a dog .. he wants to win so bad,” says Mattison, “he always gives 100% .. and then some. He led the team in rebounds and I look forward to seeing him work on his offensive game .. He’s definitely someone to keep on eye on the next two years.”

“I asked a lot from Landon Mattern this year,” says Mattison, “From having very little varsity time to becoming the starting point guard .. he accepted the challenge and did a great job. Not only can he handle the ball well, he can score too. It was nice to see Landon adjust his offensive game a little bit from only wanting to shoot threes to driving to the basket and getting on the foul line. Landon also had the craziest 3-4 minutes I’ve ever witnessed .. to start the 3rd quarter of the district championship game. Scoring 16 points in that stretch.”

Mattison and the Mounties are going to follow the same game plan this offseason that they did last year as they prepare to again replace three key starters off a successful team.

“We’ll have as many open gyms as possible, play in a summer league and some tournaments,” says Mattison, “it looks like we’re going to AA next season and we are looking forward to the new challenges!”