That's a wrap: Liberty-Eylau misses playoffs with loss to North Lamar

Liberty-Eylau's Anthony Cunningham lays the ball up over North Lamar's Jake Stewart on Tuesday at the Rader Dome in Texarkana, Texas.
Liberty-Eylau's Anthony Cunningham lays the ball up over North Lamar's Jake Stewart on Tuesday at the Rader Dome in Texarkana, Texas.

It was a disappointing end to a frustrating season for Liberty-Eylau's boys.

Recent history indicates it's a rare season when L-E's boys don't advance to the postseason, but 2017 will be one of those occasions after the Leopards lost Tuesday at the Rader Dome to North Lamar, 61-36.

"Give North Lamar credit, we've had a tough year; My kids played hard, and we're going to get through this and perservere," L-E coach Marlon Byrdsong said. "The bright spot is we'll have almost all these guys back next season."

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AP

FILE - In this March 15, 2013 file photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during the Ronald Reagan Dinner at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. Weighing in while hosting an education conference in Boston, the potential 2016 presidential candidate argued that congressional Republicans represent “the mirror opposite” of the successes of GOP governors outside the capital. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

L-E (14-16, 3-7) never led against the Panthers Tuesday, who scored the game's first four points. North Lamar (13-19, 5-5) finishes tied for third place in District 14-4A with Pittsburg.

The Panthers took control of the contest in the first quarter with deadly outside shooting, while dominating the boards behind 6-6 Jake Stewart, who pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. NL won the battle on the glass, 35-23.

Tyler Hill, Josh Daingerfield, Jay Walters and Menderiz Gray all swished treys in the first quarter as North Lamar built an 18-6 cushion at the first break.

L-E outscored the Panthers 8-2 in the opening seconds of the second quarter with back-to-back treys by Decorian Phillips and Dominique Williams.

However, the Leopards did not score again in the first half after Phillips' 3-pointer with 5:29 left before intermission. Meanwhile, the Panthers poured in 11 points to take a commanding 31-14 lead.

It never got better, NL taking a 48-24 advantage on a pair of baseline 3-pointers by Daingerfield in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Both teams substituted freely in the fourth quarter, the Panthers building a 28-point (60-32) lead behind backup post Cody Anthony, who scored all six of his points in the final five minutes of the game.

North Lamar's rebounding and hot shooting was clearly the difference in the game, because the Leopards only committed six turnovers. The Panthers were equally impressive against L-E's full-court pressure with seven turnovers in the game.

Hill, Walters and Gray led NL's offense with 10 points each. 

L-E's top weapons were senior Anthony Cunningham and Dominique Williams with 12 and 9 points, respectively.

In preliminary action L-E swep the junior varsity and freshman encounters.

The Leopards' jayvee beat North Lamar, 48-40. Dazawion Cooper led L-E with 10 points. The host team won the ninth grade game, 34-21. Kentrell Atkins scored nine points for the winners.

 

North Lamar    18    13    17    13    -    61

Liberty-Eylau    6    8    10    12    -    36

NL (61): Hill 4 0-0 10; Perrin 0 2-4 2; Daingerfield 3 0-0 9; Walters 4 0-1 10; Stewart 4 0-0 8; Gray 4 0-0 10; 

Asay 1 0-0 2; Finch 2 0-0 4; Anthony 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 25 2-5 61.

L-E (36): Phillips 2 0-0 5; Williams 4 0-0 9; Greer 1 0-0 2; Cunningham 5 1-2 12; Cross 1 0-0 2; Pineda-Davis 1 2-2 4; Barroa 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 3-4 36.

3-point goals: NL, Hill 2, Daingerfield 3, Gray 2, Walters 2. L-E, Phillips, Williams, Cunningham. Team Fouls: North Lamar 11, Liberty-Eylau 15. Fouled Out: L-E, Pineda-Davis.

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