Liberty played the type of game it wanted to play against a difficult opponent on its biggest stage of the season at home Tuesday.

But one thing about basketball: No matter what, it's tough to win if you don't put the ball in the basket.

Liberty didn't, not often enough, and the No. 2 seed Patriots lost a 39-35 decision to No. 6 Fresno-Edison in a Central Section Division I semifinal.

"The pace was perfect; the defensive effort was exactly what we wanted," Liberty coach A.J. Shearon said. "We just didn't make shots we've made all year."

Edison (25-7) ended the game on an 11-2 run. Jamont Wilson scored on a putback, a layup and two free throws to make it 34-33 Tigers, and then Braxton Hicks stretched the lead to three with a pull-up jumper with about a minute left.

Liberty (20-8) cut it to 36-35 with a spinning, acrobatic baseline drive by sophomore Aaron Marcus, but then Daylon Potts hit two free throws -- the second one banked in -- and Kyle Ferreira missed a 3-pointer with less than a second left.

"We finally made some free throws, and Braxton made a big, big shot," Edison coach Tim Wilkins said. "If you'd have told me we scored 39 points and won, I'd tell you you were crazy."

The pace of the game was exactly at Liberty's preference. The Patriots committed 15 turnovers, but not many of them led to Edison fast breaks, and Liberty forced 21 turnovers with its varied zone defenses.

"If we would have lost some crazy game played at their pace, that would have been harder to deal with," Shearon said. "Sometimes you just have to accept that it wasn't your night."

Bray Barnes had 14 points to lead Liberty, but Ferreira, a sharpshooter who easily leads the Patriots in scoring, was held to 7 points and just one 3-pointer -- it tied the game at 27 at the end of the third quarter. Much of that was due to Edison's swarming man-to-man defense, led by guards Keith Hayes, Sergio Rocha and Will Lee.

Read the original here:

Edison edges ice-cold Liberty