Leopards tame Lions in thriller

Liberty-Eylau’s basketball season is off and running.

The Leopards (1-0) hosted Greenville for their season opener at the Rader Dome Tuesday night.

Liberty-Eylau defeated the Lions with a late game putback at the buzzer, 86-85.

“They played hard and we did the same thing last year,” Liberty-Eylau head coach Stasik Vaughn said. “It came down to who had the last possession. We did really well on free throws but we have to learn how to get the backside block out. They never gave up though.”

There were six lead changes in the fourth quarter, with Beandre Wafer sealing the victory for the Leopards as time expired.

Wafer collected 10 points and seven boards for Liberty-Eylau.

Kentraile Atkins lead the Leopards offensively with a teamhigh 24 points and five rebounds.

“Kentraile can get to the rack when he wants to,” Vaughn said. “He worked on his free throws all summer. He shot about 15 free throws tonight and made a majority of them. He kept going to the hole, and they would foul him. He’d step to the line and make them pay.”

Greenville had shrunk the Leopards lead to one point in the final quarter with 4:06 left in the game, 71-70.

R’Aikem Harris finished with 13 points for the Leopards, and teammate Daveoncha Meadows ended with 12 points.

The Leopards’ pace forced Greenville to either foul or allowed open lanes to the basket.

The Lions cut into the Leopards lead with timely 3-point shooting from Quin Anderson, who led Greenville offensively with a gamehigh 46 points and six rebounds.

Liberty-Eylau held a 10-point edge over Greenville heading into the locker rooms, 42-32.

Atkins started the first half off with the hot hand for the Leopards.

The Leopards opened the game with an up-and-down pace, which Greenville was unable to match until midway through the opening quarter.

“One of my guys tweaked his knee a little tonight,” Vaughn said. “When one player goes down, someone has to step up. I’m very proud of my guys. It was a heckuva ball game.”

Greenville 15 17 27 26 — 85 Liberty-Eylau 18 24 22 22 — 86

GREENVILLE (85): Anderson 14 9-10 46, Mapps 5 3-7 13, Davis 4 0-0 8, Clark 2 2-3 6, Carter 1 0-0 2, Abrego 3 1-2 7, Waldrep 0 1-2 1. TEAM TOTALS 29 15-22 30 85.

LIBERTY-EYLAU (86): Hunter 2 0-0 2, Atkins 6 10-15 24, Harris 4 3-3 13, Barron 2 2-6 6, Meadows 4 2-2 12, Price 1 0-0 3, Daniels 3 2-2 9, Wafer 3 4-4 10, Williams 1 0-0 3. TEAM TOTALS 25 23-34 28 86.

3-point goals- GHS- Anderson 8. LE-Atkins 2, Harris 2, Meadows 2, Price, Daniels.