Liberty escapes Colfax; Bulldogs win NE opener

Colfax boys took an undefeated Liberty team into the last minutes of league finale last Thursday at Colfax, wound up with a number-three ticket to the West Vallehy playoffs and then dropped Northwest Christian in the first round Monday.

Next round will feature a head-on collision with Kettle Falls, number-two team on the north side, in a quarter-final game today.

In the district tourney action Monday, Colfax took out the Crusaders 56-45 to advance to the quarter-finals. They bombed an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and kept up the pressure for most of the duration.

John Lustig finished with 29 points, and Hunter Claassen hit 18 for the night.

Lustig lanced four three-point shots for the opener at West Valley.

Thursday in their last game on the home court, the Bulldogs took the Liberty Lancers down to the the final seconds, but Coach Mike Thacker and the Lancers left town with their undefeated league record in tact, along with a top slot at West Valley.

Final score for the Lancer win was Liberty 77-Colfax 75.

The game was decided with Liberty's Tayshawn Colvin hitting 19 of 20 foul shots, most of them in the last quarter.

Lustig of Colfax, who led all scorers with 36 points, was knocked down while attempting to launch a three-pointer at the end of the game.

Lustig went to the line and nailed all three shots to tie it at 75-75, but the Lancers quickly broke the tie when Colvin hit a two-pointer right down the middle.

Colfax had 2.4 seconds left to answer, and Lustig gave a big heave on the ball from mid court, but it fell short.

Colfax hit 25 points in the second quarter to take a 39-31 lead at the half, but Liberty closed ground to within a point by the end of the third quarter and the teams traded the lead until the final seconds.

The win left Liberty with a 12-0 record for the two rounds of league play on the south side, and that put them in a top bracket for the league tournament.

Colfax finished with an 8-4 mark.

Liberty 77-Colfax 75: 17/14 14/25 23/16 23/20: Hunter Claassen 7 0-0 14, Cole Baerlocher 1 0-0 3, John Lustig 12 (2-3pt) 10-12 36, Gavin Hammer 3 (all 3pt) 2-2 11, Gunner Aune 1 0-1 3, Cotton Booker 1 2-5 4, Blake Holman 1 0-0 2, Layne Gingerich 1 0-0 2. Total 27 14-20 75.

Liberty: Cotton Marsh 1 6-6 8, Mason Simmon 1 0-0 3, Jacob Holling 9 (63pt) 2-2 26, Austin Flaig 2 2-4 6, Tayshawn Colvin 2 19 20 23, Van Ricker 5 1-4 11. Total: 20 30-38 77.

Colfax 56-Northwest Christian-45: 18/4 13/17 11/9 14/15: Classsen 7 (3pt) 3-6 18, Baerlocher 1 0-0 3, Lustig 9 (4 3pt) 7-9 29, Hammer 1 0-0 2, Holman 1 0-0 2, Gingerich 1 0-0 2 ,. Total: 20 10-15 56. NWC: Mitch Littleton 7 1-6 15, Aidan Tibbets 1 0-1 3, Mack Young 1 0-0 2, David Maynard 2 4-4 8, Daniel Swanson 4 21-2 9, Jon Lester 3 2-2 8. Total: 18 5-2 15 45.