Hamilton wins it with a late dunk

MJ Cole wins it with a dunk.

Chandler---The Lions of Liberty came out like gangbusters with a 7-0 start. But the game slowed down and the Huskies of Hamilton slowed it down and fought back with a 10-9 lead. MJ Cole for Hamilton and Jacob Hunter for Liberty set the tone early that they were going to be a problem to defend all night long. A late 3 by Nicholas Topolosek and a Jake Steele layup at the buzzer gives Liberty a 17-16 lead.

Shooters were everywhere

The size of Liberty was bothering the Huskies on the glass all night but the Huskies shot over the top from distance by Cameron Clayton and Nait Tainsky. The Lions kept getting to the basket and scoring inside behind Hunter and 6'10 Milton Phinnessee III. Lions led 29-28 heading into halftime.

The bench becomes a factor

Camden Lauterbach and Jake Steele played well off the bench in the 3rd for Hamilton and Trevin Davis for Liberty. The Lions led 48-47 heading into the 4th quarter.

Big momentum, clutch shot and an exciting finish

Clayton hit a corner 3 to give the Huskies a 50-48 lead and then a dunk by Cole for a 52-48 lead. Steele with a 3 and Hunter with a layup gives the Huskies their biggest lead at 55-50. Topolosek 3 ties it at 55-all and TJ Harris steals it and lays it in to give the Lions the lead back at 58-55 with 3:07 to play.

A clutch 3 by Tainsky ties it up at 58 but then a Phinnessee block leads to a Hunter layup on the other end to give the Lions a 60-59 lead under a minute. Huskies started fouling but Hunter missed both and Coach Aldridge chose not to call timeout which turned out to be a great move as MJ Cole dunks it to give them a 61-60 WIN.

The Huskies hit 9 3's on the night.  

QUICK STATS:

Hamilton

MJ Cole 20 points

Nait Tainsky 15 points

Cameron Clayton 13 points

Jake Steele 10 points

Liberty

Jacob Hunter 19 points

Nicholas Topolosek 12 points

Keegan Colter 10 points

Milton Phinnessee III 9 points