The Liberty Patriots had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.7 points), and they went ahead and made it seven on Wednesday. They walked away with a 65-52 win over Durango. Given Liberty's advantage in MaxPreps' Nevada basketball rankings (they are ranked first, while Durango is ranked 55th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Liberty was led to victory by Kaeden Castillero and Jaden Riley. Castillero scored 11 points along with three steals, while Riley scored 12 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. Another player making a difference was Tyus Thomas, who scored six points along with two steals.
Despite the loss, Durango saw an underclassman step up: Drake Afe-Passion scored 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Bowen, who scored seven points along with eight rebounds.
Even though they lost, Durango smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Liberty's victory bumped their record up to 12-1. As for Durango, they are on a eight-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-15.
Liberty will look to defend their home court on Friday against Silverado at 6:30 p.m. Silverado has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 204 points over their last three games. Durango won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Centennial at 6:30 p.m. on January 18th. Centennial knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past nine matchups -- so hopefully Durango likes a good challenge.
