On Wednesday, Desert Pines faced Liberty in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Desert Pines Jaguars fell 64-51 to the Liberty Patriots. The Jaguars were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Patriots apparently hadn't forgotten their loss the last time these teams played back in February of 2024.
Aaron McMorran
| 02/05/25 @ Liberty | 11 |
| 12/21/24 vs Shadow Ridge | 10 |
| 02/04/25 vs Las Vegas | 8 |
| 01/10/25 @ Spring Valley | 8 |
| 12/20/24 vs Rancho Verde | 8 |
Despite the defeat, Desert Pines saw an underclassman step up: freshman Aaron McMorran shot 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double on 22 points and 11 boards. Those 11 rebounds set a new season-high mark for McMorran. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaden Redding, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten boards.
Leading Liberty to victory were Jaden Riley and Dante Steward. Riley posted 25 points and seven rebounds, while Steward dropped a double-double on 26 points and 11 boards. Steward has become a key player for Liberty: the team is 5-1 when he posts at least ten rebounds, but 7-9 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Jalen Parker, who put up eight points in addition to 11 boards and five steals.
Desert Pines dropped their record down to 8-10 with the loss, which was their third straight on the road. As for Liberty, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-10 record this season.
Coming up, Desert Pines is taking a road trip to take on Durango at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Desert Pines is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 62.9 points per game this season. As for Liberty, they will venture away from home to face off against Las Vegas at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Liberty knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 15 games -- so hopefully Las Vegas likes a good challenge.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
