Basketball

Diamonds in the rough

Liberty staves off outstanding O’Neill in OT; VanLieu reaches 1,000-point milestone

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — Reckon with this: when the Class B sectionals roll around in early March, no team wants to draw either Liberty or James I. O’Neill, two outstanding squads capable of beating anybody.

Liberty threw itself right back into the realm of becoming a postseason contender with its dramatic 63-61 overtime home win over the Raiders on January 18 in arguably one of the most exciting games of this season, now at its midpoint.

O’Neill came into this game with a 4-0 league record, having dispatched all of its Division IV rivals in its first half-season tour of duty. That mark included a stunning home win over Burke.

The Raiders had already bested Liberty twice this season. The first time was 68-54 in a holiday tourney win. Most recently, O’Neill downed Liberty in Highland Falls on January 10 to the tune of 66-56.

By comparison, Liberty’s first half of the season has been disappointing. Coming into this fray with a league record of 1-2 and a lackluster 3-7 mark overall, Liberty needed this win in the worst way. The way coach Jason Semo and his valiant young team saw it, their season was literally on the line.

It would take a Herculean effort to beat James I. O’Neill, and that’s exactly what Liberty gave as the Indians survived a missed lay up in the waning seconds of overtime by Raider standout Ben Johnson, and a failed tip by Connor Broesler to hold on for a banner victory that triggered the third tumultuous celebration of the evening.

Good things come in threes, but this final fun fest at midcourt topped the earlier two celebrations with the finality of its impact.

Earlier in the evening, with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter, junior Dustin VanLieu had canned the 1000th point of his career, setting off a hug and photo fest for celebration number one. VanLieu became Liberty’s first 1,000-point scorer since Kaseem Sinceno last accomplished that feat in 1994.

VanLieu came into this game 11 points shy of the mark, but only managed to score four in the first half. By night’s end, he’d have 13 to give him 1,002. VanLieu is bound to score many more points before his career is over next season. He had nailed eight three-pointers two days prior in a heart-rending 66-65 overtime loss to Goshen. VanLieu’s scoring milestone aside, Liberty’s victory in this hardwood classic was by far the bigger story of the evening. Suffering two overtime losses in a week might have buried Liberty for good.

Celebration number two came as Liberty’s Dashawn Williamson hit the go-ahead shot in overtime in what was first believed to be the end of the game. However, screams, chest pounding and hugs turned out to be premature as O’Neill coach Debbi Crowe had called a timeout with three seconds remaining following Williamson’s electric shot.

Both coaches counseled their teams for the final play and Crowe set up a beauty. Crowe hoped for a three to win it and Semo schooled his team to deny that likelihood from either Robert Dunn, who had already hit four on the night, or Broesler, who had wreaked damage on them in the teams’ earlier outings.

O’Neill inbounded the ball but with no open three. Ben Johnson came off a staggered screen and somehow missed the lay up. Broesler missed the tip that would have sent the game into double OT, thereby giving Liberty the win by virtue of Williamson’s prior bucket.

Williamson came up huge when it mattered the most. Not only did he lead all scorers with 22 points, he hit all four of his free throws in the overtime. He had missed all three of his attempts during regulation. Although Liberty shot only 44 percent from the line (12-of-27), Williamson’s 100 percent in OT was the difference-maker. Williamson did not play in either of the two games against O’Neill.

Teammate Ivan Rivera’s play sparked Liberty in the opening minutes of overtime as the outstanding defender got a pair of steals and scored the first four points. Rivera would finish with 13 points. His hustle and grit played a key part in Liberty’s victory.

From the get-go, this game had thriller written all over it. Liberty got out to a strong 7-0 start as O’Neill struggled in the early going. But the lead narrowed to 13-10 by the end of the first quarter as the Raiders showed their ability to string together points in a hurry.

Four of O’Neill’s first-quarter points came from sophomore post presence Chris Outing, who gives the Raiders an inside force to go with their essentially guard-driven offense. Outing would match Dunn and Johnson with 14 points by night’s end although he struggled from the line early on.

Liberty led 27-21 at the half but its lead should have been even greater. With O’Neill struggling to get into its half-court offense, Liberty missed lay ups and free throws and an opportunity to put more pressure on talented O’Neill.

Both teams played better in the second half. O’Neill scored 17 points in the third quarter to Liberty’s 19. The Raiders got seven from Outing and five from Matt Gibney, including a three pointer.

VanLieu contributed nine points in the third quarter and Williamson canned six to pace the Indians to a 46-38 lead heading into the final frame.

But it took Outing and Dunn all of three-and-a-half minutes to erase that lead. A three by Dunn and a free throw by the big sophomore tied it up at 46-all with 4:20 remaining.

Rivera provided the Indians with the go-ahead shot and one from the stripe, but O’Neill kept on coming.

A three by Jimmy Doonan would be the shot to propel the game into overtime. It gave O’Neill the lead at 53-51 but a put back by Williamson tied it at 53-all. O’Neill had the ball with 11 seconds to go but failed to score and the game went into OT.

Rivera and Williamson gave Liberty a six-point lead as the former hit two from the floor and Williamson made a pair of free throws. Dunn cut it to four, but Williamson hit two more from the stripe to make it 61-55 with 1:20 to go. Johnson hit two from the line and then got his team within two with another bucket.

Now the heat was on Liberty. With 32 seconds left in the game and 22 seconds on the shot clock, the Indians needed to score, but a tie up gave O’Neill the ball with 18 seconds left. Broesler was fouled and hit both to tie it at 61 before Williamson hit the shot that would prove to be the game winner.

Crowe and her team were visibly shaken by the last-second miss. “We didn’t play well in the first half. We seemed a little bit out of synch,” said Crowe, who praised her team’s second-half effort, including that of Outing. “He gives us a strong presence down low.”

“We were intense tonight,” said Crowe, who was quick to credit Williamson’s play, and added, “We’ve got to play better man defense.” O’Neill 9–4 (4-1 OCIAA) beat Pine Plains in a non-league game on January 19 and will play Monticello on January 25 following the Regents’ week break.

Semo looked back to the final seconds of the game and breathed a sigh of relief. “They got a great look,” he admitted. “Our biggest concerns were Broesler and Dunn with their three-point threat. In overtime, the two biggest things are you’ve got to rebound and make free throws. We made our foul shots but they did too,” he noted.

But in addition to the timely free-throw shooting, Semo felt the victory came by way of his team’s defense.

“When we play defense the way we’re capable of playing it, we’re a very good team.”

Sizing up the win, Semo said, “We’re a very young team and this win is part of a progression. First, we needed these kids to believe. Now, they’ve had a taste of blood and the next challenge is to get them to take it to the next level.”

Semo praised Crowe and O’Neill. “They’re a tough match up. They play five guards when they don’t have the big kid [Outing], and not only are they lightning quick to the basket, they’re a threat with the deep ball as well.”

Semo hopes the win will give his team a big lift as it begins round two of the season. Round three is the sectionals, something Liberty must still work relentlessly to make. With four league games remaining, including one each with Burke and Fallsburg and a pair with Sullivan West, Liberty, now 4-7 (2-2 OCIAA), needs to win two of those league match ups.

If you love heart-pounding great basketball, get your sleeping bag, some granola bars and a gallon of Gatorade and get set to camp out at the Class B sectionals in about six weeks. For the first time in recent years, it could be a wild and wooly finish with any and all of the Division IV teams in the mix, along with Red Hook, Highland and who knows who else.

Can’t wait!

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.