Basketball Recap: Liberty Comes Up Short in High-Profile Match with Coronado

On Thursday, Liberty faced Coronado in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Liberty Patriots fell just short of the Coronado Cougars by a score of 62-59. If the Patriots were looking for revenge after losing 60-49 to them when the teams met back in January of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.

Dante Steward

Points

01/30/25 @ Coronado	18
01/28/25 vs Mojave	22
01/24/25 @ Silverado	24
01/17/25 vs Durango	15
01/15/25 @ Spring Valley	35

Liberty lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Dante Steward, who went 8 for 15 en route to 18 points. Steward's evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Evan Hilliard, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 14 points.

Coronado's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Mason Abittan led the charge by putting up 24 points. Jalen St. Clair was another key player, scoring 17 points.

Liberty's defeat dropped their record down to 10-10. As for Coronado, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a massive bump to their 12-10 record this season.

Liberty wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 73-58 win against Foothill on the 4th. As for Coronado, they have also already played their next game, a 74-70 loss against Sierra Vista on the 31st.