By Ted Waddell
LIBERTY — January 13, 2006 – The Indians of Liberty Central School fell to the visiting Goshen Gladiators 63-44 on Monday night in a non-league boys’ basketball game.
Liberty (2-8) outscored Goshen 15-10 in the opening period, but came up short in the remaining periods. In the second, third and fourth quarters, Goshen (3-6) outscored the Indians by margins of 10-7, 28-13 and 15-9, respectively.
In the third period, the Gladiators surged to an unanswered 11-point run on the way to taking a 13-point lead (48-35) at the end of the stanza.
Double-digit scorers for Goshen included J.D. Green (14 points), Kamaal Mabry (14 points) and Jerell Lucas (13 points).
Liberty’s Lakarri Byrd soared to 17 team-high points.
Stats from the free throw line: Goshen 7-of-14 (50 percent); LCS 7-of-18 (39 percent).
Liberty Coach Dave Slater said his team’s downfall all season has been the inability to put together a strong third quarter.
“It’s a killer, and then it goes downhill quick,” he said.
Slater said he’s trying to stress that point when the offense works.
“We all get good looks [at the basket],” he explained. “Lakarri Byrd is a great ball player, we’re going to live and die by Lakarri [and his performance] but at the same time, he’s got to learn to play with his teammates.”