Evergreen – One of the greatest mysteries in prep basketball has to be the bench.
Every team has one, but no one knows what kind of production will emerge from it.
Evergreen found 42 points off its bench Tuesday night as the Cougars overcame a slow start to upend ninth-ranked Liberty 78-71 in an up-and-down Class 4A nonleague matchup.
The Cougars (3-1) trailed by nine early and appeared on the verge of crumbling before emerging in the second quarter to outscore the Colorado Springs-based Lancers 25-13 to take the lead for good.
“We came in really afraid of them, because they were ranked,” said Cougars senior Chris Poepping, who was the only Evergreen starter to score in double figures (13). “Once we realized we could play with them, we started hitting shots.”
Sophomore Charlie Blackstock and junior forward Blake Sutton came off the bench to pace the Cougars with 15 points apiece while fellow subs Joe Beaudin and Armond Esmaili scored six each.
Liberty (4-1) got a team-high 15 points from 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior Tyrone Felder. Senior Sean Reed scored 14 points, Carey Davis added 13 points and seven rebounds while standout point guard Ben Feilmeier was held to eight points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Liberty’s penetrating guard play and half-court trap had the Cougars in tatters for most the first quarter. The Lancers forced 10 turnovers in the quarter and led by nine (17-8) before Evergreen found its composure and outscored the visitors 31-16 before halftime.
Blackstock scored 11 points in the first half, eight in the second quarter. Blackstock’s reverse layup tied the game 26-26 midway through the second quarter and his bank shot three minutes before halftime gave the Cougars their first lead (30-28).
The Cougars, who run a Princeton-style offense, made just two 3-pointers but hurt the Lancers by slashing to the basket. Evergreen pushed its lead to eight (41-33) in the third quarter before going up 69-58 with 2:26 remaining on two free throws by 6-3 senior Kevin Fay.
“I thought it was going to be a long night,” Cougars coach Scott Haebe said of Liberty’s crisp start. “At the end of both halves, with our rotation and our substitution …it seemed like we kind of wore them out a little.”
Liberty 20 13 17 21 – 71
Evergreen 14 25 18 21 – 78
Liberty – Beltz 0 2-2 2, Davis 4 4-4 13, Feilmeier 3 1-2 8, Shonka 0 0-0 0, Sublousky 4 1-2 11, Page 0 0-0 0, Vargas 2 1-4 5, Reed 3 7-8 14, Marvin 0 0-0 0, Molinari 1 0-2 3, Nader 0 0-0 0, Felder 7 1-2 15. Totals 24 17-26 71.
Evergreen – Beaudin 3 0-0 6, Blackstock 7 0-2 15, Tucker 2 0-6 4, Esmaili 2 1-2 6, Poepping 2 9-12 13, McJunkin 3 1-2 7, Herbert 2 0-0 4, Sutton 6 3-4 15, Fay 1 6-6 8. Totals 28 20-34 78.
3-pt. goals – Sublousky 2, Davis, Feilmeier, Molinari, Reed; Blackstock, Esmaili. Total fouls – Liberty 25; Evergreen 22. Fouled out – Beltz, Feilmeier; Fay. Technicals – None.
