Greeley – If you ask Liberty coach Jim Masterson, he’ll tell you the Lancers were right where they wanted to be after one quarter Thursday at the Butler Hancock Sports Pavilion.
Golden 11, Liberty 2.
“What we wanted to do was get them overconfident,” Masterson said with a smirk. “If they start to blow us out, we will have them right where we want them.”
Fifth-seeded Liberty (18-7), which shot just 1-for-11 in the first quarter, then found its shooting range and frustrated the top-seeded Demons to advance to Saturday’s Great 8 with a 47-38 win in the Guy Gibbs Region.
Liberty will play Thomas Jefferson on Saturday at 6 p.m. for the right to advance to the Final Four at the Coors Events Center in Boulder.
Liberty shooters found their rhythm in the fourth quarter, and Ben Feilmeier and Scott Sublousky did most of the damage. Sublousky hit a 3-pointer to put Liberty up 34-31, added a jumper one possession later and then capped off a 10-0 run that spelled the end for Golden.
“Once we got going, the idea was to never look back,” said Sublousky, a sophomore. “Just proves, the playoffs are a whole new game.”
Golden (16-9), known for its aggressive defense, got a spoonful of its own medicine as Liberty kept its hands active and forced the Demons into 19 turnovers.
Sublousky and Tyrone Felder paced the Lancers with 14 points apiece and Feilmeier finished with 10. Golden was led by Sean Stokes’ 11 points.
Liberty 2 14 12 19 – 47
Golden 11 5 12 10 – 38
Liberty – Beltz 0 1-2 1, Davis 2 2-2 6, Feilmeier 2 6-6 10, Sublousky 5 2-4 14, Felder 5 4-6 14, Vargas 0 2-4 2, Molinari 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 17-24 47.
Golden – Stokes 3 3-3 11, Nye 2 0-0 4, Wegscheider 1 1-2 3, Campbell 2 0-2 4, King 2 0-0 4, Campbell 0 0-0 0, Benoy 3 0-0 6, Smith 0 0-0 0, Hayes 0 0-0 0, Chapman 2 0-0 6. Totals 15 4-7 38.
3-pt. goals – Sublousky 2; Stokes 2, Chapman 2. Total fouls – Liberty 14; Golden 19. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 54, LONGMONT 40
Pierre Allen is good … real good.
The reigning Class 4A Mr. Basketball did everything, scoring 27 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and blocking six shots in the Spartans’ victory.
“The whole team had the flu, and we’ve been drinking nothing but Pedialyte the last few nights,” said Allen, whose team fell behind 7-0 in the early going. “We started a little slow, just trying to get our wind. Everything came together in the end.”
Allen set the tone defensively in the first quarter for the defending champs, blocking three shots and scaring away any other dribble penetration by Longmont (17-8).
“He’s just a great presence inside and he did what he needed to do for TJ at both ends of the floor,” Longmont coach Jeff Kloster said. “For some reason, we were afraid to back inside, and we were just plain star-struck.”
Forced to rely on its perimeter game, Longmont put the ball in the hands of Travess Armenta. The usually smooth shooter never found his range, shooting just 6-for-20 (33 percent).
TJ (16-9) opened the third quarter on a 12-0 run to take a 39-25 lead. Allen scored 10 of the Spartans’ 16 points in the quarter.
Lawon Benford and Ryan Atherton finished with seven points each for TJ. Armenta was the high man for Longmont, finishing with 16 points.
Thomas Jefferson 10 17 16 11 – 54
Longmont 8 17 6 9 – 40
Thomas Jefferson – Askew 0 0-0 0, Benford 3 1-4 7, Atherton 2 3-4 7, Kane 2 1-15, Allen 10 6-7 27, Bellamy 1 0-0 3, McCullough 3 0-0 5. Totals 20 11-16 54.
Longmont – Aiello 3 0-2 7, Armenta 6 0-2 16, Britthenham 0 0-0 0, Henry 2 2-4 6, Ohlsen 3 2-4 8, Zuege 1 0-0 3, Patterson 0 0-0 0, Moulton 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 4-12 40.
3-pt. goals – Allen, Bellamy, McCullough; Armenta 4, Aiello, Zuege. Total fouls – Thomas Jefferson 12; Longmont 13. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
Staff writer Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
