Staff photo / Dan Hiner Liberty’s Ramsey Hadi-Cox (5) is fouled while driving to the basket for a layup during the first quarter of Tuesday’s game against Champion at Champion High School.

CHAMPION — It was a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference showdown when Champion hosted Liberty on Tuesday, and the Leopards earned their first victory of the season with a 71-49 triumph.

“We finally learned how to win,” Liberty coach Steve Arnold said. “We played well last week against LaBrae. We were tied in the fourth quarter, and we kind of let it slip away. This is a process.

“The kids have worked tremendously hard all summer in practice. I told them that it’s going to start paying off. We have a tough stretch after the holidays, but we’re going to keep working.”

Champion senior Landon Primus got the scoring started underneath the basket. Then, the Leopards (1-5) went on an 8-0 run.

Senior Marky Nolan (team-high 15 points) made a strong move to the hoop for the Flashes. However, Aaron Barclay (16 points) made a shot just before the buzzer sounded to give Liberty a 14-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Liberty junior Adam Huynh dribbled through his legs to get to the hoop for a layup, and Jimmond Moore (15 points) made a 3-pointer from the corner. Freshman Andrew Kish scored in the closing seconds for Champion, but the Leopards took a 32-29 lead into halftime.

Moore stole the ball and laid it in for Liberty, and junior Ramsey Hadi-Cox (game-high 21 points) completed an and-one as the Leopards extended their advantage to 49-40 heading to the fourth quarter.

“We had high intensity,” Hadi-Cox said. ” We competed hard in every quarter. We have to keep playing like that in every game.”

The Leopards played their best in the fourth to pull away with the victory. Huynh split the press, and dished out an assist to senior Joziah Hill as Liberty took advantage of some costly turnovers by Champion.

The Flashes (1-5) kept playing hard in the fourth quarter. Damien Jewell-Wickham made a turnaround jumper. Seniors Braylen Braham (14 points) and Zack Morris were hustling with full-court pressure.

“We had 27 turnovers,” Champion coach Mark Taylor said. “That’s kind of been our Achilles heel all season. We’ve gotta keep working on taking care of the ball. We had some good moments in the first half. We just didn’t take care of the ball in the second half. We show glimpses of how we want to play. We just need to be more consistent for four quarters.”