Instead of slowing down in the final five minutes as teams become careful with the ball, the wild Dec. 3 rivalry basketball game between Liberty and Sunrise Mountain only sped up, careening toward its conclusion.

In the final two minutes, the kid who normally would not be in down the stretch made the difference.

Sophomore point guard Rafe Canale, starting due to senior Brandon Taylor's injury, hit three pointer that hit the back of the rim and died, rolling in to tie the game at 75. On Sunrise Mountain's next possession his more textbook trey swished and the home team grabbed a 78-75 lead it would not relinquish.

In the last 30 seconds, Liberty senior forward Jacob Patterson drove for a layup. But Mustangs junior forward Colin Carey capped a 20-point second half with a leaning bank shot that secured a 80-77 Sunrise Mountain win.

"We played at their pace pretty much the whole game, which made me nervous. Rafe and Chase (Pavey) stepped up and calmed us down," Sunrise Mountain coach Gary Rath said. "At halftime I told them, 'That is as well as they can shoot the ball. And we didn't play that well and we're only down five.' That's why we kept preaching to just keep chipping away."

Liberty (3-2, 0-1 regular season) nearly buried their rival down the street before a packed house.

Junior guard Brigham Montez checked in midway through the first quarter to give the Lions a 23-13. Junior guard Miles Guliford added his own trey as the visitors led 26-19 after one.

"Brigham is a stud. If you look at the defensive side, AJ. (Snow) was huge. Trevor (Owens) was driving and dishing and he's only a sophomore. Ike (Obi) has filled a nice role. Blake Johnson has stepped up," Liberty coach Mark Wood said.

Liberty led throughout the first half, and it would have been insurmountable without the effort of Mustangs senior forward Tanner Mayer in the first 16 minutes.

Mayer scored Sunrise Mountain's first eight points and continued to find the spots to attack the Lions' press. He had 20 of the home team's 37 points at halftime.

"I didn't realize he had that many at half. Oh geez. Tanner kept us in the game. We were struggling and nervous and weren't always solid with the ball," Rath said.

Sunrise Mountain (3-2, 1-0) ended the half on a 9-2 run to draw within five at the break. Late in the third quarter Carey came alive to grab a lead for the home team.

Lions senior T.J. Mand sank two free throws with just more than three minutes left in the third to extend the lead to 56-48. Carey scored eight of the final 10 Mustangs points of the frame as the Mustangs took a 58-56 advantage into the fourth.

Then Carey broke a 60-60 tie with a three-point play. Then Canale scored his first three and Carey added two more for a 68-60 lead.

The Lions were cold and teetering on the edge of a loss.

"We had good looks. I didn't think we were shooting bad shots," Wood said. "At times ... Sunrise banked a shot in early and then nestled a three against the rim and went in at the end. That's basketball. What I told our guys is, 'You played your heats out. You played your game. You played your tempo, the press was great.' It's a coin flip. We knew coming in that this was going to be a really good game. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of a three."

But this team has already faced real obstacles in the young season. During the week of tryouts, star 6-8 sophomore post man Foune Doucore and promising 6-6 freshman Seydou Tamboura suddenly transferred to Phoenix St. Mary's Catholic.

Without their main men inside, all 12 remaining Lions are stepping up to fill the gaps as best they can.

"They are resilient. They are together. We talk about toughness and these guys live it. That's a very good basketball team we played tonight and I think we're a really good basketball team," Wood said. "We lost two family members on day three of our tryouts and these guys came together even more. They have found their identity. They play a lot like that (2017) Final Four team."

The Lions quickly poured in eight straight points to tie. Junior Jaydn Brown scored to give the Mustangs a 70-68 advantage.

Junior forward Patrick Steitz canned a corner trey for a 71-70 lead. Patterson added a pair of driving layups for the 75-72 lead.

In addition to his second-half scoring Carey controlled the stretch by dominating the defensive boards. He led all players with 16 rebounds.

"We keep talking about that, that if they come out on you, you need to get to the basket. Smaller guys are going to be on you and you need to take advantage of that," Rath said. "I challenged him at the end of the third quarter. I said, 'You're getting rebounds but you're not blocking out.' He took it personal and he dominated the boards in the fourth quarter. He was a man among boys in the fourth quarter."

Rath said Brandon Taylor had a slight tear of patella tendon and was cleared to practice Dec. 2. The plan is to gradually ramp up playing time starting Dec. 6 and targeting Dec. 19 vs Ironwood as the date when he will be ready to go as a starter.



Girls Basketball: Sunrise Mountain 52, Liberty 16

The Mustangs girls removed any doubt early on, rolling to a 27-10 lead at the half en route to a 52-16 win over Liberty (0-2).

Sunrise Mountain coach Jen Tolle said this group has a good concept of team defense. Three freshmen are in the team's rotation and the coach said the newcomers have picked up the defensive schemes well, though they need to be a little better on the defensive boards.

"They have good communication on defense. Their rotations are good and each kid is really committed to it. We're never sticking. We can put five kids out there that are committed to pressuring the ball and understanding where they have to be with help," Tolle said.

Senior guard Kylie Krebs scored the Lions' first eight points. Then, her teammates spent the rest of the game trying to match her.

First-year coach Brittany Mayclin said she is trying to figure out which lineup combinations work best together and how to set up a consistent, effective rotation.

"We are still trying to figure that out. It's been a rough road because we have the talent and the effort. It's, who's going to show up? Unfortunately we're inconsistent and don't know who is going to perform," Mayclin said.

Mayclin also is in the unenviable position of being Liberty's fourth head coach in three seasons - Charde Houston was hired in the summer of 2018 but stepped down before coaching a regular season game at Liberty.

After that kind of turnover, establishing continuity has been tough, to say the least.

"We've really been focusing on the fundamentals, starting with ballhandling. We have to start at the base because they haven't been taught a lot of things. It's about making sure we're on the same page, cutting to the ball and meeting passes and doing the basic things," Mayclin said.

On the flip side, Sunrise Mountain (3-2, 1-0) is able to add talented freshman to a veteran core that reached the 5A quarterfinals last season.

Freshman post Mackenzie Dunham led the Mustangs in rebounds and finished several layups on feeds from fellow frosh Reena Bhakta. Freshman guard Mackenzie Nielsen hit a three.

"That's huge for us, to bring kids off the bench that are adding to the intensity and adding to the threat we have on the court, it gives you a lot of flexibility and different lineups," Tolle said.

Meanwhile, seniors Sidney Bickel and Teryn Demaree, junioe Julie Diveney and sophomores Kelci Connolly and Jacey Demaree are back from last year's breakthrough team.

Teryn Demaree paced all scorers with 13 points. Diveney and Bickel each chipped in 9.

This year, with most of the team that ended the program's playoff drought back, the Mustangs are more sure of themselves.

"We would go into every game last year and I felt like I had to convince them we could compete and win. I don't feel like I have to give them that sales pitch every night," Tolle said.