LCA remains hot, tops Timberlake

In one of the area's traditional boys basketball cross-town rivalries, Liberty Christian Academy defeated Timberlake Christian School 52-37 in the Bulldogs' first annual Christmas Invitational.

Despite the 15-point final margin, Liberty Christian coach John Patterson said the Bulldogs had been through a familiar dogfight with the Tornadoes, crediting Timberlake and coach Jason Spear for consistently playing Liberty Christian tough regardless of either team's record or talent level.

In the past week, Liberty Christian (4-2) raised some eyebrows with a convincing 17-point victory last Friday over Hidden Valley, one of the state's finest teams, and continued its success with a win over Amelia County on Wednesday in the first night of the Christmas Invitational.

From Thursday night's opening tip, those victories seemed a distant memory when the visiting Tornadoes (5-5) came out firing, taking an early 10-4 lead behind the hot shooting of Timberlake star shooting guard Jon Morgan, who had a game-high 26 points.

"Before the game, our goal was to keep Morgan to nine points," Patterson said, though he admitted afterward that holding a player of Morgan's caliber to single digits was probably never realistic.

After the slow start, Patterson took a timeout and made some adjustments that slowed down Morgan and jumpstarted the Bulldogs offense to an 11-0 run to take a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With the Tornadoes concerned about the Bulldogs' significant height advantage down low, Liberty Christian guards Andrew Pughsley and Gorgi Branov found themselves open and their four 3-point field goals in the first half proved to be the difference in the game.

Spear said his team had known coming in that Liberty Christian would be tough inside and would pressure them heavily, and felt Timberlake actually held up well against the press given earlier-season struggles with it — but acknowledged the Tornadoes left the Bulldogs' guards open behind the arc, and Liberty Christian made them pay for it.

Liberty Christian was led by Branov's 15 points and Pughsley added 14.

By Corey Williams, Staff Writer
Source: The News & Advance