Late in the season it has begun to look like Joe Slack, Libertys new head boys basketball coach, and this years varsity Panthers just might know what they are doing. From their 83-34 win over Splendora on Jan. 20 to Libertys 77-67 defeat of Huffman on Friday night, Jan. 30, Liberty has moved from fifth to third place in District 23-4A.

Between those two games Liberty beat Shepherd, 73-57, Jan. 23, and defeated Tarkington, 64-47, on Jan. 27.

Hudson Standish got things started for the Panthers on a rebound shot, Kendall Lemelle threw in a 3-pointer, then Standish snagged a Falcons pass and threw the ball to Lemelle who threw it in the hoop for another 2 points to give Liberty an early, 7-0, lead over Huffman Friday night. The Panthers dropped in four shots from outside the 3-point line, plus five more baskets and a free throw to be ahead by 23-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Falcons came back in the second to match the Panthers point for point but did not gain any ground and went into halftime still 14 points behind, 43-29.

By the end of the third, Huffman had fallen a little further, 61-43. The Falcons played a hard final period, eager to take back the third-place district standing they had just under two weeks ago, and outscored Liberty by 8 points, but their hard fourth period was not enough to make up for that first-period deficit.

Malik Brown was high scorer for the Panthers, making 19 points, including nailing a couple of shots from the far outside.

Kendall Lemelle and Hudson Standish each scored 16 points for Liberty. Lemelle made two 3-pointers and went four for four from the free-throw line.

Huffmans Brett Coogler was high scorer for the Falcons with 19 points, four 3-pointers and five for five on foul shots.

Jake Harding made 17 points for Huffman, and Phillip Vendramin scored 10.

The Falcons made 68 percent of their free throws at Liberty.

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Liberty takes down Huffman, 77-67