The Liberty Eagles hosted the 41st annual Liberty Tournament starting Jan. 17. The teams were seeded Doniphan, Eminence, Licking, Thayer, Alton, Liberty, Houston and Summersville. The Eagles faced the third-seeded Licking Wildcats in the first round of the tournament.

The Eagles came out strong, taking a 23 to 11 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats cut the lead by seven in the second quarter, outscoring the Eagles 19 to 12 to bring the halftime score to Liberty 35, Licking 30. The Eagles added two points to their lead in the third quarter, but the Wildcats outscored the Eagles 17 to 15 in the fourth to leave the Eagles’ lead at 5 points.

The game ended with a final score of Liberty 60, Licking 55 sending the Eagles to the semifinals to face the Eminence Redwings. Jordan Pruett and Kole Gastineau led the Eagles with 14 and 13 points. Pruett also had a team leading 7 rebounds. Jaelon Acklin and James Denton scored 11 and 10 points respectively. Adam Niehaus had 4 points, Dakota Sharp 3, Hunter Barnes 2, and Josh Henry 1.

The Redwings came into the semifinal game ranked 6th in the Class 1 MBCA (Missouri Basketball Coaches Association) poll. In the first quarter, the Redwings held the Eagles to 3 points while putting 14 up on their side of the board. The Eagles got into the game in second quarter, scoring 15 points to the Redwings 18. With a halftime score of Liberty 18, Eminence 32, the Eagles stayed close in scoring in the third quarter, but the Redwings were able to extend their lead by 3. The third quarter ended with a score of Liberty 28, Eminence 45. The Redwings sealed their win in the fourth quarter to end the game with a score of Liberty 35, Eminence 61. Jordan Pruett and James Denton scored 10 points each. Jaelon Acklin had 8 points. Josh Henry scored 3, Adam Neihaus 2, and both Nathan Robertson and Kole Gastineau scored 1 point each.

Coach Rob Brown summed up the game by saying, “We got abused in every phase of the game, embarrassing effort. We looked tentative. Early in the game we had difficulty scoring, and we let that frustrate us and carry over to defense. The result was an all-around horrible effort.”

In the third place game, the Eagles faced the Thayer Bobcats who had defeated the Alton Comets in the first round and lost to the Doniphan Dons in the semifinals. Thayer took a 12 to 2 lead early in the first quarter.

The Eagles battled back, but fell to 10 to 18 by the end of the first. In the second quarter, the Eagles cut the lead by 1 to make the halftime score Liberty 22, Thayer 29. The Eagles kept battling back from 8- to 10-point deficits to keep the game interesting. They outscored the Bobcats 19 to 13 in the third quarter to bring the score to Liberty 41, Thayer 42. In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats took the win by outscoring the Eagles 26 to 19 to end the game with a score of Thayer 68, Liberty 60. James Denton led the Eagles with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Jaelon Acklin had 17 points and 5 rebounds, Jordan Pruett scored 8 points and had a team leading 9 rebounds. Kole Gastineau scored 7 points, Adam Niehaus 4, and Hunter Barnes 3.

Coach Brown said, “Hard to beat someone when you shoot 10 free throws and your opponent shoots 34 free throws. We made some silly fouls which gave them opportunities for easy uncontested points. Our intensity and effort was there, liked the way we competed, but in the end we made some bad decisions in the fourth quarter and could not get it done.”

In the championship game, the first seeded Doniphan Dons defeated the second seeded Eminence Redwings 76 to 68 in overtime.