Daily Leader photo/Rustin Watt
Alex Gilmore gets above the Garden City defense for a shot Tuesday  
during a Western Athletic Conference game at the Big House. Liberal  
dominated the Buffaloes in a 71-40 win.

By EARL WATT
• Daily Leader
Kevin Livingston headed to the hoop Tuesday and attempted a dunk. The  
ball clanked off the rim, Garden City rebounded and headed down for  
an easy basket.
Liberal coach Drew Gruver shared his displeasure with Livingston, not  
on the missed dunk but on the lack of effort to get back on defense.
Other than that, Liberal dominated the Western Athletic Conference  
Garden City Buffaloes, 71-40.
Sophomore Tyson Deaton came off the bench to lead the Redskins with  
15 points.
“Tyson’s been working hard at practice,” Liberal coach Drew Gruver  
said. “He is growing up a little bit. He’s worked as hard as anyone I  
thought he deserved a chance. I told him earlier at school not to be  
surprised if I called his name.”
The Redskins jumped out to an early  27-10 advantage. Jade Cathey  
scored eight of his 10 points in the first quarter.
“Defensively we got after them and  pressured the ball,” Gruver said.  
“We got some turnovers, we rebounded well, and we got the ball out in  
transition. I told the guys to let the defense lead to our offense.  
Play hard on defense, and let offense take care of itself.”
Liberal's offense continued to produce solid numbers, but the Redskin  
defense put the clamps on the Buffaloes. The win evened up Liberal’s  
conference record and helped erase the bad memories from Saturdays  
loss to the Hay Indians.
“It was a good way to get over that loss at Hays,” Gruver said. “That  
was bugging me until tonight.”
Livingston scored 14, Eric Brown had 10, Alex Gilmore scored eight,  
Kowan Russell had seven, Justin Andrade scored four, and Ryan Petty  
had two.
Liberal (6-1) will host Sunrise Academy at 7 p.m. Friday.