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Bristol bounces back, beats Liberty

Tribune Chronicle / Brian Yauger Liberty’s Marquan Tate is pressured by Nick Church (20) and Damion Durst of Bristol.

BRISTOLVILLE — After a quick turnaround from Friday’s road defeat to Champion, the Bristol Panthers returned home and recovered to defeat the Liberty Leopards, 75-65, Saturday night.

“We’re just up and down,” Panthers coach Craig Giesy said. “That’s just kind of how we’ve been. Just inconsistent. We had great moments and then went brain dead a couple times throughout the game.

“I was proud, in the fourth quarter, we did a good job of not turning the ball over. We also did a good job making free throws down the stretch. There were some positives, obviously Gage (Elza) and Matt (Church) held down the fort scoring-wise tonight and everyone else made plays for us down the stretch.”

The Panthers had big performances from Elza and Church. Church scored 29 points during the game and scored 11 of the 17 points the Panthers scored in the first quarter. Church also boasted an impressive 85 percent field goal percentage and pulled down six rebounds.

“He (Church) is a three-sport athlete and had a big cross-country season so it took him a little bit to get going here, but now that he’s in the flow of things again he’s playing really well for us,” Giesy said.

Tribune Chronicle / Brian Yauger Matt Church of Bristol prepares to fire up a shot against Liberty Saturday night in the Panthers’ 75-65 win.

Elza put on a dominant performance, scoring 38 points and shot 63 percent from the field. Elza also grabbed four boards and got four steals.

Right before the half, Liberty scored a basket to give them the lead. That didn’t deter Giesy, however, as he didn’t lose confidence in his team.

“We thought we did some things that gave them opportunities and thought we were making some mental mistakes that we thought we could clean up,” Giesy said. “We did early in the third and we started making the same mental mistakes again, it was back and forth all night. Just things we have to clean up as we go.”

Liberty had three scorers in double figures, including senior Ezell Brown who scored 26 points. Travis Myers and Omarion Dawson each scored 12.

“It was a great game,” Liberty coach Chris Kohl said. “I thought it was a very good battle between two pretty decent teams. I was pleased with our performance. Always want something a little better, we made some mistakes down the stretch that really hurt us, but we’re growing as a team.

“It’s always nice to come up here and play Bristol, they’re always a good basketball program, always very strong. You always like to win, but you like to see your team play well too and I thought we played relatively well.”

Liberty has a week off before taking on the Clippers down in Columbiana, while Bristol looks to keep the momentum going against the bigger schools when they head to Brookfield to take on the Warriors.

“Tough game last night in Champion, found a way to win tonight in Liberty and we go to Brookfield next Saturday,” Giesy said. “Just a nice little stretch around the holiday for us to see what we’re made of.

“We’re excited to play against some schools that are bigger than us and teams that are going to challenge us. We know Brookfield is going to do the same.”

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