Five Hawks hit treys in win over L-E
Sometimes the final statistics don't tell the entire story.
For example, Liberty-Eylau dominated Pleasant Grove on the boards Tuesday at the Rader Dome. The Leopards committed only six turnovers against the cat-quick Hawks, and L-E outscored the Hawks 17-8 from the free throw line.
Are you wondering how the stateranked Hawks beat L-E, 67-56?
Pleasant Grove (18-8, 5-1) shot 67 percent outside the arc with five players making treys, and when the Hawks quit shooting outside 6-8 Dustin Thomas took over.
“Both teams played well,” Pleasant Grove coach Billy Brewer said. “I thought we played some pretty good defense, but you've got to give L-E credit.”
L-E (8-12, 3-3) led 4-2 early after a layup by junior post Davion Hall and two free throws by Javon Rigsby. The Hawks would not trail again after backto-back treys by Ronnie Griffin and
Reggie Myrks.
“Pleasant Grove hit shots when they needed to,” L-E coach Craig Collvins said. “I thought we did a good job, but their role players really stepped up big for them again.”
That lead reached eight points on a couple of occasions in the second quarter thanks to 3-pointers by Ladarius Reid and Peter Gavriel. L-E battled back by controlling the glass at the offensive end and PG's lead was 23-21 when Rigsby converted the Leopards' only trey of the game with 3:35 left before intermission.
Reid and Gavriel accounted for the final six points of the half with 3-pointers.
The game never got closer than six points in the second half as the Hawks built 15-point cushions on three occasions.
Treys by Reid and Griffin prevented L-E from ever getting closer.
Thomas,
who
finished
the night with 19 points and a gamehigh 21 rebounds kept L-E at a distance during the final eight mninutes.
Reid scored 14 points for the winners, including four 3-pointers, while Myrks scored 10.
As he did in the two teams' first encounter at Pleasant Grove, Hall was brilliant again with a game-high 23 points and 17 rebounds. Rigsby added 11.
The preliminary games were split with L-E winning the junior varsity contest, 56-46. Malcolm Gant led the Leopards with 16 points, while Donelle Hoof scored 12. Demarcus Brewster had 14 points for the Hawks, with Logan Stahl scoring 12 and Austin Bland adding 11.
“Anytime you've got a 6-3 football player going against a 6-8 Division I basketball player and he scores and rebounds like he did tonight it's phenomenal, because Dustin Thomas is the real deal.”
Pleasant Grove won the freshman game, 30-25. Braden Young had 10 points for the Hawks and Cross Bright added six. Zach Gooden led L-E with six points.