Holler, L-B roll past Blue Devils

CAREY-Liberty Benton senior Lincoln Holler and his team wanted to show what they could do, even while missing a key player. The best way to do that: play as tough and aggressive defense, which always wins games. Liberty-Benton defeated Carey 57-30 in non-conference play on Wednesday. "I was really happy with our team," Eagles coach Doug Whiteman said. "We aren't the deepest team, and being without Luke (Gerken) tonight, I was just really proud of our guys stepping up. We didn't shoot it well early, and we needed to get stops. I like the way this team is headed." Carey (10-8) turned the ball over five times out of seven possessions within the first two minutes of regulation, which gave L-B (12-7) a running start. It grabbed a five-point first-quarter lead. "The first half we turned the ball over way too much, and against a team like that, you can't do that," Carey coach Zack Bame said. Dalton Roberts' response to that run was a basket that was tipped in as he jumped in the air. L-B struggled to gain footing as the Blue Devil defense made them work to gain the remaining four points, which came on a Grady Latta bucket and Reid Irwin making a trip to the free throw line and making his pair. "I thought we played well defensively," senior Lincoln Holler said. "They are a lot stronger than us but we played well on the boards tonight. We also out rebounded them, which was important to us winning." The Eagles outrebound the Blue Devils 31-26. "We were able to get it out in transition and we executed some sets tonight which was nice to see," Whiteman said. Within the first 11 seconds of the second quarter, Chase Mullholand made a trip to the charity stripe and sank a pair of free throws. The response from L-B was two triples, one each from Taden Troyer and Brody Thomas. With six minutes left, Bekkem Sherman made one of his three baskets, which brought the Blue Devils within 15-6 of the Eagles. Later, Holler made his second field goal, which pushed L-B's lead to 19-7. Sherman made his second basket to bring the score 19-9 and the Eagles called a timeout. From the timeout, Holler scored on a layup and Nemo Arredondo drilled a triple as the buzzer sounded for the half. Carey trailed 24-9 at the break. "We tell the guys before each game: play 32 minutes, four quarters of basketball, and give it everything you got," Bame said. "It's not just for me, if for everyone in that room. We did a great job of not giving up." The Blue Devils jumped out in the third quarter with Roberts making a jumper and on the next possession, Tripp Phoenix made a basket but was fouled before it went in. The basket counted and he was sent to the free throw line and made a plus one. Less than a minute later, Kyler Boes sank a basket, slicing Carey deficit to 10 points within a span of three minutes. "We know that they are a very good defensive team," Holler said. "We had to be strong with the ball, screen bodies, play hard, and trust each other." It didn't stay that way for long as the Eagles broke away by Holler getting an offensive rebound after Brayden Kitzler missed his free throws, making it 30-18. Holler scored seven of his 15 points in the third quarter, and was able to bury the Blue Devils 37-18 before Carey called a timeout with 1:22 remaining. By the end of the third quarter, it was 40-22. The top scorer for L-B was Holler with 15 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Irwin with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The top scorer for the Blue Devils was Chase Stone with 11 points and 14 rebounds. "Lincoln will be the first to tell you that he missed some easy ones," said Whiteman of the six foot six senior. "He was wonderful on the defensive end and on the boards. Lincoln did a great job on rebounding and impacted the game in so many ways." LIBERTY-BENTON (12-7) Trevor Gebhardt 0-1-1, Taden Troyer 1-3-6, Reid Irwin 4-2-10, Grady Latta 1-2-4, Cooper Conaway 3-2-8, Brody Thomas 2-0-6, Nemo Arredondo 1-4-7, Lincoln Holler 6–2-15 TOTALS: 18-16-57 CAREY (10-8) Kyler Boes 1-0-2, Chase Mullholand 0-2-22, Carter Bame 1-0-2, Bekkem Sherman 3-0-6, Chase Stone 4-3-11, Tripp Phoenix 1-1-3, Dalton Roberts 2-0-4 TOTALS: 12-6-30 Liberty-Benton 9 15 16 17 –57Carey 2 7 13 8 –30