The Sunrise Mountain Mustangs pushed their score all the way to 58 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 68-58 to Liberty. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Sunrise Mountain in their matchups with Liberty: they've now lost three in a row.
Sunrise Mountain lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Broderick Hammond, who scored 11 points along with three steals. Jj Martin was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with two steals.
Liberty got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Stephan Miller out in front who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. That's the first time this season that Miller pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Jackson Hunter, who scored 15 points along with five assists.
Sunrise Mountain has not been sharp recently, as they've lost six of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-12 record this season. As for Liberty, their victory bumped their record up to 11-9.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Sunrise Mountain will take on Apollo at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Apollo focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 14 last Thursday. As for Liberty, they will be playing in front of their home fans against O'Connor at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. O'Connor presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than Liberty in Arizona (O'Connor is ranked tenth, while Liberty is ranked 41st).
