Gilmore hits back to back threes to rally Redskins past Dodge City

Wednesday, 04 February 2009 00:00

Daily Leader photo/Earl Watt
Alex Gilmore talks to Kevin Livingston after Liberal knocked off
Dodge CIty 53-45. Gilmore hit back-to-back threes in the final three
minutes to erase a four-point deficit and give the Redskins a 45-43
lead.

By EARL WATT
• Daily Leader
DODGE CITY — The Fieldhouse in Dodge City has been the Bermuda
Triangle for the Liberal Redskins.
Redskins go in, but they don’t always come out.
That was the same feeling Tuesday when Liberal jumped out to a 12-
point lead only to see it disappear, when Kevin Livingston missed two
point-blank lay-ups on fast break attempts, and despite a solid
performance, the Redskins found themselves trailing by four points in
the fourth quarter.
But Alex Gilmore broke the 12-year drought for the Redskins at Dodge
by connecting on back-to-back threes with three minutes to play to
put the Redskins up by two. Liberal held on the rest of the way to
earn a 53-45 win.
“Our varsity has never won here since I was a freshman,” Gilmore
said. “Our team started to panic when they went up. I knew we had to
make something happen.”
Livingston found Gilmore open, and made a skip pass when Gilmore made
the first three.
After a rebound, Jade Cathey set a screen that opened up Gilmore for
the second shot that hit nothing but net.
“Those were two big shots,” Liberal coach Drew Gruver said. “Game-
saving shots. When Gilmore hit those threes, we fed off that for the
rest of the game. I think it put a little doubt in Dodge City’s mind
as well.”
Liberal jumped out to what appeared to be the beginning of a rout.
The Redskins used a strong transition offense to shoot out to a 25-13
lead.
But Dodge did not abandon their patented 3-2 zone defense, and the
Redskins struggled to penetrate the Red Demon defenses.
Poor passing led to easy baskets for Dodge City, and by halftime
Dodge had cut the lead to 28-24.
Liberal continued to fight a defensive war in the third quarter,
doing just enough to fight off the Demons, but a Dodge City three-
pointer to end the quarter tied the game at 36-36.
Dodge City continued to frustrate the Redskin offense for the first
half of the fourth quarter. After another Dodge City three, the Red
Demons took their first lead of the game, 41-38.
Jade Cathey was fouled hard with four minutes to play but only made
one of two free throws. Dodge City attacked the baseline and scored a
two-point basket to take a 43-39 lead.
That’s when Gilmore took over and nailed back-to-back threes.
Dodge City had a chance to tie the game twice at the free throw line,
but missed the front end of two one-and-one opportunities.
Liberal connected on eight of 10 free throws in the final 1:21 to
preserve the win.
“I was proud of the way the guys finished,” Gruver said. “We got down
by four, but they didn’t quit until the last buzzer.
Gilmore and Livingston led the Redskins with 16 points each, Jade
Cathey added 11, Eric Brown had six, and Berakah Carter scored four.
Liberal (11-2, 2-1 WAC) will travel to Great Bend Friday to face the
Panthers (9-5, 2-1).

SCORE BY QUARTER
   1   2   3   4   F
Liberal   20   8   8   17   53
Dodge City   11   13   12   9   45

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