Liberty’s first half hurts in final home game of season

It was Liberty’s final boys basketball game at home as a one high-school community.

It was Senior Night for seven seniors.

The Blue Jays had quite a bit to play for, and Liberty coach Roger Stirtz couldn’t hide his frustration with the way the Blue Jays wasted their first half against Lee’s Summit Friday, Feb. 12.

Liberty sleepwalked through the first 16 minutes. They woke up a little in the second half, but not enough to avoid a 45-44 loss to the Tigers at Cokely Fieldhouse. The Blue Jays made only 7 of 25 shots in the first half and were outscored 8-2 in the final three minutes to trail 26-16 at halftime.

“It was the worst half of basketball that we have had here since 1994,” Stirtz said. “The first half is a mystery for me. I’ve never witnessed anything like it.

“We didn’t want to go out and compete. We had no desire to win. We had no pride at all. All of the things that we talked about wanting to send the seniors go out on a right note didn’t happen. We were totally flat.”

Lee’s Summit increased its lead to 33-22 with a 3-pointer from LaDarrius Whitehead before Liberty found some life in the next eight minutes.

The Blue Jays went on a 19-6 run, and Liberty senior J.T. Nixon hit a 3-pointer to put Liberty up 41-39 with 3:20 remaining.

But Lee’s Summit immediately seized the lead back with two free throws from Sean Green and a basket by Whitehead.

Liberty’s Derek Koon, who led the team with 10 points, missed a one-and-one free throw chance with 1:05 remaining, and the Tigers’ Sam Sealer made two free throws to put his team ahead 45-41.

Bryan Adams of Liberty converted a traditional three-point play to cut the lead to one, and Lee’s Summit’s Nathan Schumacher missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 8.8 seconds remaining.

The Blue Jays corralled the rebound and sped down the court but couldn’t get a good shot. Stirtz called timeout with 0.9 seconds remaining to set up a play.

Liberty threw the ball into Nixon, who got a decent look at the rim, but his shot was short.

Sports writer Kevin Goodwin can be reached at 389-6652 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .