By Tyler F. Thompson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
STRAFFORD — The Bolivar Liberators entered the Class 4 District 10 tournaments as the No. 3 seed.
However, Bolivar bested both Strafford (two seed) and Springfield Catholic (one seed), respectively, to win the district title against the Irish Saturday afternoon at Strafford.
The Liberators used a crippling first-half defense and timely and effective sharpshooting from downtown, Bolivar emerged with the 57-49 win against the favored Irish — the defending district champs.
Bolivar netted six shots from beyond the arc in the opening quarter, as Gardner Casey, Landon Childs, Trenton Patke, Drake Durham and Matthew Giglio all found a collective groove.
And just like that, the Liberators were off and running, hitting shots from all locales.
Defensively, the Liberators also forced 14 turnovers.
Energy was a precursor to the win.
“We just see it [energy] as motivation,” said the 6’3” Durham, who finished with 10 points. “During the regular season, we had a lot of turnovers, so I think them having more turnovers than us, I think that is really feeding into the energy. That gets the bench going, everybody going. It is all energy, being together, all the time.”
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While it is rare to pull off back-to-back upsets in any district tournament, it’s all in a day’s work. Or for the Liberators, two days’ work.
“After every single loss, we just stick together,” said 5’9” senior and team catalyst Damean Young. “We just give it our best. I mean, Strafford, we knew they were going to be tough. Like tonight, we came out and hit some 3’s and stuck together. Defense is the main thing. That is what we work on.”
And work on defense they did as the Liberators forced six turnovers in a quarter and a half.
“We just stick together. That [defense] is our pride and joy,” said Young.
While the Irish never led in the contest, they certainly made in interesting as they cut the deficit to six points, 31-25, at half.
Catholic tied it up early in the third as Rian Mulherin scored on the 10-footer, but a 9-4 run authored by Bolivar to close out the quarter kept the momentum on their end.
Another six Irish turnovers in the third quarter yielded more opportunities on the offensive end for Young and his Bolivar counterparts. That was all the assistance they needed to secure the win.
“Threes just come easy when you love each other,” said Young. “That is how it works in basketball. You just have to trust you are going to make the shot.”
Collectively, Bolivar — in pure Bolivar fashion under the tutelage of head coach Robby Hoegh — exhibited confidence from the arc throughout the contest.
The Liberators knocked down 21 points from the three en route to the win.
Bolivar now preps for sectional action Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Father Tolton Regional Catholic, who defeated the Irish in last year’s Class 4 quarters.
Bolivar will host the contest.
Official scoring (per scorebook)
Bolivar
Patke: 11 points (3 3’s)
Young: 19
Casey: 10
Giglio: 5
Durham: 10
Campbell: 2
Catholic
R. Mulhern team high 18 points
B. Mulhern: 5
Roberson: 6
Elliott: 2
Schultze: 8
Kendall: 2
