Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only the Liberty Patriots walked away with it. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 67-65 victory over the Rattlers on Friday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Liberty's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tyus Thomas led the charge by scoring 15 points along with three steals. Andre Porter was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds.
Despite the loss, Mojave still got an impressive performance from C.J. Shaw, who scored 32 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Shaw is crushing the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Zacarrion Jackson, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Liberty has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 16 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-3 record this season. As for Mojave, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 13-12.
Liberty will square off against Bishop Gorman at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Bishop Gorman has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 1,295 points over their last 18 matchups. Mojave does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
