Liberty was the 79-77 winner over Pinnacle when they last played one another back in February of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Liberty Lions fell to the Pinnacle Pioneers 72-66. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Lions came into the game with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 19th, while the Pioneers are ranked 70th).
| 12/15/23 vs Pinnacle | 14 |
| 02/02/24 @ O'Connor | 12 |
| 01/31/25 @ Pinnacle | 11 |
| 12/03/24 vs Hamilton | 11 |
| 12/11/23 @ Paradise Honors | 10 |
Liberty lost on Friday despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Mark Duguid, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds. That's the most boards Duguid has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacob Hunter, who posted 14 points.
Even though they lost, Liberty was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Pinnacle only racked up nine assists.
Ryan Nelson was his usual excellent self, going 9 of 16 on his way to 29 points and six rebounds for Pinnacle. Another player making a difference was Cam Hurt, who scored 12 points.
Liberty's defeat dropped their record down to 14-8. As for Pinnacle, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 8-14.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Liberty will face off against Mountain Ridge at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Liberty is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 68.6 points per game this season. Pinnacle has already played their next contest (against Boulder Creek), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
