Liberal is 2-8 against the Buffaloes since February of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Liberal Redskins will head out on the road to take on the Garden City Buffaloes at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Liberal focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 on Friday.
Liberal pushed their score all the way to 62, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 70-62 to Great Bend. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Liberal in their matchups with the Panthers: they've now lost five in a row.
Liberal's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of James Fieser, who scored 20 points along with two steals, and Zayden Martinez who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds. Martinez is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last five games he's played. J. Brooks Kappelmann was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Garden City escaped with a win on Friday against the Fire by the margin of a single free throw, 54-53. The victory was all the more spectacular given Garden City's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 179th, while the Fire are ranked 43rd).
Liberal's defeat was their sixth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 5-10. As for Garden City, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-8.
Liberal might still be hurting after the 74-50 loss they got from the Buffaloes when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Can Liberal avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
