Eagles use 29-point second quarter to beat VB

VAN BUREN – After one quarter on Friday, Liberty-Benton and Van Buren were separated by one possession. It was an 8-5 Eagle lead after the first eight minutes. Being down just three — considering VB's Andrew Schroeder picked up two quick fouls — was pretty impressive. "Give coach [Tyler] Niekamp some credit," L-B head coach Ben Gerken said. "They came out and took us out of some of the actions we like to do. I think they scouted us pretty well. I think some of it was I think we made poor decisions. We had good opportunities, we played a little faster, but we didn't make any." But eventually, not having arguably its best player on the court for much of the first half got to Van Buren. "It seemed like it was not even a minute into it and that hurt us because it puts everybody else in such tough positions offensively," Niekamp said. "Coming into the game, he was our leading scorer and we look to him for a lot of stuff. That definitely set us back." And after the second quarter, the Black Knights probably wished they had Schroeder. Aided by a 29-11 second-quarter run — which was led by Carson Conaway's 12 second-quarter points — the Eagles were up 37-16 at the midway point and cruised to a 62-39 BVC opening-game win over the Black Knights. "I think they were able to get out in transition a little bit. I think we didn't execute very well offensively like we really needed to," VB's Niekamp said. "We talked about using good offense as a way to play defense and not letting them get some of those baskets in transition. But once they got it going, it was hard them to stop." Conaway finished with a game-high 21 points for the Eagles. "I think we played tighter defense [in the second quarter and on], which led to easier baskets in transition," Conaway said. "And we were being unselfish with the ball and it led to a lot of open shots for us." "Carson's got a scorer's mentality and for us to play as well as we can, everyone needs to be able to play their role,' Gerken said. "But one thing I was proud of Carson for tonight was that he stepped it up a little bit more on the defensive end." Conaway finished with nine rebounds and six blocks for Eagles. "We still count on him to be a good scorer for us and just have the right instincts to put it in, but I was impressed with his defense." The Eagles — after losing to Defiance 47-37 on Saturday — get one back in the win column and improve to 2-1 (1-0 BVC). "We still have a long season to go, but to be 1-0 in the league is always good. To come over here in a competitive environment like Van Buren — this is fun," Gerken said. "As much as we're having to live through right now, it's fun to be in this environment. Right as the game got ready and the two student sections are going after each other, I turned to the assistant coach and said 'This is pretty awesome.'" VAN BUREN (1-2, 0-1 BVC) Harrington 2-0—2, Durliat 2-1—5, Miller 2-1—6, Schroeder 1-2—4, Gregory 1-4—6, Frederick 1-0—2, Reichley 1-0—3, Rampe 2-1—5, Coffey 2-0—5. TOTALS: 14-10—38. LIBERTY-BENTON (2-1, 1-0 BVC) Eckford 4-0—8, Conaway 10-0—21, Doolittle 3-2—8, Collert 2-1—5, Hanni-Wells 1-0—2, Gerken 0-1—1, K. Garlock 1-0—2, Parker 3-1—8, L. Garlock 1-0—3, Wages 2-0—4. TOTALS: 25-5—62. Liberty-Benton 8 29 17 8—62 Van Buren 5 11 13 9—38 3-POINT GOALS: Liberty-Benton 5 (Conaway 3); Van Buren 3. FREE THROWS: Liberty-Benton 5-6; Van Buren 8-18. REBOUNDS: Liberty-Benton 28 (Conaway 9); Van Buren 26. TURNOVERS: Liberty-Benton 16; Van Buren 24. JUNIOR VARSITY: Liberty-Benton, 50-33.