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Dec 30
2009
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Liberty-Kearney battle highlights Jewell final nightPosted by: kevinggoodwin on Dec 30, 2009 Tagged in: The Bird is the Word
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The Bank Midwest/William Jewell Holiday Classic got the matchup it wanted to close the tourney.
Liberty, 8-1 and the No. 2 seed in the Nelson Division, will play No. 1 Kearney (8-0) at 9 p.m. tonight at the Mabee Center. The two teams met last year in a semifinal with the Blue Jays getting a 3-pointer at the buzzer from J.T. Nixon for a 56-53 victory.
The key battle in the game will be how Liberty defends Kearney's size in the paint. The Bulldogs, the Class 4 runner-up last season, feature a fearsome frontline of 6-foot-9 senior Dillon Starzl (14 points and 9 rebounds a game before the Jewell tourney) and 6-foot-7 senior Grant Cozad (14.5 ppg, 8 rpg).
Liberty goes into the contest shorthanded. Senior Bryan Adams (6-7) is still out with a stress fracture in his foot. The Blue Jays will go with junior Denton Koon (6-6) and senior Marcus Lucas (6-5) against Starzl and Cozad.
Koon has been the Blue Jays' best offensive option this season, scoring 18 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. Junior Jordan Lewis averages 11 points a game and Nixon is averaging 9.9 points a contest, hitting 47 percent (16 of 34) of his attempts from three-point range.
Without Adams, it's going to be hard for Liberty keep Kearney off the glass. Rebounding will most likely determine if the Blue Jays can get their first Jewell tourney title since 2006.
Liberty, 8-1 and the No. 2 seed in the Nelson Division, will play No. 1 Kearney (8-0) at 9 p.m. tonight at the Mabee Center. The two teams met last year in a semifinal with the Blue Jays getting a 3-pointer at the buzzer from J.T. Nixon for a 56-53 victory.
The key battle in the game will be how Liberty defends Kearney's size in the paint. The Bulldogs, the Class 4 runner-up last season, feature a fearsome frontline of 6-foot-9 senior Dillon Starzl (14 points and 9 rebounds a game before the Jewell tourney) and 6-foot-7 senior Grant Cozad (14.5 ppg, 8 rpg).
Liberty goes into the contest shorthanded. Senior Bryan Adams (6-7) is still out with a stress fracture in his foot. The Blue Jays will go with junior Denton Koon (6-6) and senior Marcus Lucas (6-5) against Starzl and Cozad.
Koon has been the Blue Jays' best offensive option this season, scoring 18 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. Junior Jordan Lewis averages 11 points a game and Nixon is averaging 9.9 points a contest, hitting 47 percent (16 of 34) of his attempts from three-point range.
Without Adams, it's going to be hard for Liberty keep Kearney off the glass. Rebounding will most likely determine if the Blue Jays can get their first Jewell tourney title since 2006.
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