ANDERSON Last year, Dallas Burko had a really good view as Liberty Christian reeled off 12 straight wins down the stretch to claim the Class 1A state championship.

He was behind the camera.

Burko, who played for the Lions C Team last season, was tasked with filming the varsity teams games, usually from a vantage point as high up as he could go in whatever gymnasium they were playing in that night.

But today, as Liberty Christian takes on Seton Catholic in the first round of the Frankfort regional, Burko isnt the one doing the filming hes the one being filmed.

The junior has been a critical part of another successful postseason run for the Lions, averaging 14.3 points and shooting 60 percent from the field while adding 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals last week in their three sectional wins over Southern Wells, Cowan and Wes-Del.

Its unreal, Burko said after Liberty Christian defeated host Wes-Del, 66-44, last Saturday to claim the schools sixth straight sectional title. I never thought this would happen in my life. But its just unreal, man.

Burko, a forward, is one of two juniors on this years Lions team that have made the leap from C Team in 2015-16 to varsity starter this season, joining guard Isaiah Brees, who has also been able to step his game up during the postseason so far. After averaging 4.6 points per game during the regular season, Brees averaged 9.3 points per game in the sectional, shooting 53 percent from the field including converting 3 of 6 shots from 3-point range.

He had 11 points, two blocks and a steal in the sectional clincher against Wes-Del.

Brees is a kid, first game of the season hes in the bathroom puking because of his nerves. Hes so scared, Liberty Christian head coach Jason Chappell said after the game. And look at him tonight. Hes a gamer. So Im extremely proud.

The emergence of guys like Burko and Brees has allowed Liberty Christian to continue its recent run of postseason success; though this years squad is considerably different than last years, which averaged 73.2 points and had four players Franklin Nunn (20.2), Caleb Hardy (17.7), Ronny Williams (16.5) and Greg Dixon (13.1) average at least 13 points on their own.

Gone this year are Nunn, Hardy and Dixon, and while Williams has certainly picked up the pace averaging 23.2 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.2 steals this season the Lions have had much more of a roller-coaster regular season, entering todays game with a 12-14 overall record and an average of just 61.9 points.

Williams said this years Lions squad makes up the difference by playing just a little bit harder, both on offense and on defense. It wasnt uncommon to see a huffing-and-puffing Liberty Christian player diving on the court or going coast-to-coast in sectional action last week.

We cant rely on our athleticism or our size like last year, Williams, a senior, said. This year, I feel like we have a lot more heart and more team bonding nothing against them but this year its just been about making the young guys better. Like Dallas, he went from being the video guy last year to starting center. Trey Davis, he went from being on the C Team at the beginning all the way to being in the rotation with us.

To tournament veterans like Chappell and Williams, however, the mission now is to convince the rest of the squad that simply winning another sectional title isnt good enough.

After cutting down the nets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last year, they said getting back to that stage is the only acceptable outcome.

Its survive and advance, Chappell said. And thats what we have to do (today): survive and advance.

Standing in their way is a Seton Catholic (15-11) team that already defeated Liberty Christian, 66-63, on Jan. 13 in Anderson. North Vermillion (8-18) takes on Class 2A No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic (19-6) in the other regional semifinal in Frankfort.

The team were playing next, they beat us by three in our house. So weve got to take that personal, Williams said.

They beat us by three, Chappell said. We want them. We want them bad.

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Role players step up for Liberty Christian - The Herald Bulletin