Basketball Game Preview: Liberty Patriots vs. North Thurston Rams

After both having extra time off, the Liberty Patriots and the North Thurston Rams will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.

Liberty is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Issaquah just ended the team's eight-game winning streak last Friday. They received a blow as they fell 67-53 to the Eagles. The loss put an end to the Patriots' undefeated start to the season.

Meanwhile, North Thurston entered their tilt with Capital two weeks ago with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. Their defense stepped up to hand the Cougars a 2-0 shutout. The two-point effort marked the Rams' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

North Thurston pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 7.3 points per game. As for Liberty, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 8-1.