EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Liberal and Garden City battled back and forth in the first half of a Western Athletic Conference game Tuesday, but the Redskins committed multiple turnovers and took quick shots in possessions from mid range that didn’t fall in the second half, and the Redskins fell 75-59.
Liberal trailed 6-1 early in the first quarter before putting together a 7-0 run with shots from Eathan Hernandez, James Fieser and a three from Juan Diego to take an 8-6 lead.
Liberal was able to keep the slim lead the rest of the quarter and led 12-10.
Garden City started strong in the second quarter and jumped out to a 15-14 lead, but the two teams tussled for the rest of the first half with five lead changes in the quarter and four ties, and by halftime the Buffaloes had a 28-26 lead.
After taking care of the ball in the first half, the Redskins struggled with turnovers in the second half. Garden City intercepted passes and hit breakaway layups to push out to a nine point lead before the Redskins cut the lead back to one.
But the Buffaloes continued to press Liberal and force turnovers, and by the end of the third quarter Garden City had a 53-42 lead.
Liberal continued to struggle with ball control in the fourth quarter and rushed several possessions with low percentage shots and fell 75-59.
Liberal hosts Dodge tonight.
