Gerken returns, leads L-B over Willard

WILLARD – Willard had to be feeling OK at halftime of its postseason game with Liberty-Benton Friday.Despite losing a starter – Mason Dawson – to a hand injury on Tuesday, and despite trailing by as many as 16 points late in the first half, the Flashes got a straight-away 3 and two free throws from JJ Bedingfield, and trailed the Eagles 28-17 at the break.But Luke Gerken and Liberty-Benton owned the early part of the third quarter, and Liberty-Benton eliminated the Flashes in a Division V postseason tournament game, 61-40.Gerken, who missed the last six games with injury and didn't start, finished with a game-high 20 points. He was called on to replace the Eagles top scorer, Lincoln Holler, after Holler picked up his second foul early in the second quarter.He promptly played one of the best games of his career."I was really excited to get back," Gerken said. "These guys, they're so much fun to play with. That gave me my motivation."Willard miscues also fueled the L-B run after the break. It turned the ball over on its first three possessions of the third, which set the tone."I thought our kids battled tonight," said Willard head coach Joe Bedingfield, "but we can't come out, the first three, four possessions after halftime and turn the ball over."Against a team like Liberty-Benton, that has more experience than we do, a little bit more length...we turned the ball over on out-of-bound plays, uncharacteristically, because of their length."The Flashes turned the ball over seven times in the third quarter, and 16 times overall.Liberty-Benton used that – as well as a good shooting half from 3-point range – to take control.Willard's Gage Stover opened the game with two baskets, and the Flashes were up 4-0.But L-B went on a 28-8 run, hitting six first-half 3s in building a 28-12 advantage in the final minute of the half.Holler gave Willard problems, scoring eight points in the first half and 15 overall. He and Gerken combined to attack Willard."What a game by Luke," said Liberty-Benton coach .Doug Whiteman. "He stepped up and made shots."Willard fell behind 43-22 when Reid Irwin made a pair of free throws with 1:47 left in the third.The Flashes battled back behind Jaxson Hall, who made four straight baskets to finish the third quarter, and pulled the Flashes within 46-35 with 6:15 left in regulation.Hall finished with 18 points. But Willard never got the deficit below 11.Bedingfield said Willard wanted to push the pace, since L-B – with it's size – might control a more deliberate game."We were trying to get them to run out a little bit," Bedingfield said. "We got mismatched in the rotations a little bit, and you're gonna have that."Willard was forced to play without senior starter Mason Dawson, who injured himself earlier this week in practice."Right now, I feel bad for him; an unfortunate incident, being a senior," Bedingfield said. "You can't measure leadership sometimes, and being the first game without him this year, I thought our kids tried to do the best they could to fill that gap. But Mason Dawson's gonna be a kid that's hard to replace."JJ Bedingfield added eight points for Willard, which finished its season at 18-5.Liberty-Benton, got 12 points from Brody Thomas and 10 from Irwin. Now 16-7, the Eagles will travel to Lakota for a rematch with Genoa (22-0), which knocked the Eagles out of the postseason last year."I'm just so happy for our seniors (Holler, Thomas and Irwin)," Whiteman said. "It's a credit to those three kids. They're special individuals, they mean a lot to me."