Preview: Liberty Lions vs. Manchester Valley Mavericks
Liberty is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Manchester Valley is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Liberty Lions will take on the Manchester Valley Mavericks at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Liberty's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last four contests.
While it was all tied up 26-26 at halftime, Liberty was not quite Urbana's equal in the second half last Friday. Liberty took a 61-57 hit to the loss column at the hands of Urbana. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Meanwhile, Manchester Valley fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Winters Mill on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Falcons 58-52.
Despite their loss, Manchester Valley saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Carter Strohman, who scored 16 points along with three steals, was perhaps the best of all. Another player making a difference was Brendan Luddy, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Liberty's defeat dropped their record down to 7-5. As for Manchester Valley, their loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 7-4.
Liberty and Manchester Valley were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, but Liberty came up empty-handed after a 65-64 defeat. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Luddy, who scored 30 points along with two steals. Now that Liberty knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
