FOREST — Chris Harmon doesn’t easily give up on a missed shot. Twice early in the fourth quarter of Liberty’s 61-54 win at Jefferson Forest on Friday night, Harmon drove hard in the lane, missed, but outworked his defender to the ball for an easy putback.
His five points in the first two-plus minutes of the fourth quarter helped keep the Cavaliers at arm’s length, and his 14 total points moved him within five of 1,000 for his career.
When Liberty needed its senior guard the most, Harmon was unstoppable.
“That one stretch, late in the game, Harmon just took over,” JF coach Paul Smith said. “He hit some tough shots. We never could recover from that. We defended him well, but he got a lot off second looks.
“He’s so quick, changes direction and elevates well. He’s just a good high-school basketball player.”
Harmon and the athletic Minutemen (15-4, 8-2 Seminole District) were too much for JF to handle. Up 26-24 at halftime, Liberty switched from man defense to a full-court trap, a move that clearly flustered the Cavaliers (9-10, 5-6).
Liberty outscored JF 15-2 in the first five-plus minutes of the half and forced four Cavalier turnovers during the run.
“We wanted to change the pace of the game,” Harmon said. “We had to press the whole time we were out there. We didn’t want to let up.”
JF eventually adjusted to the press and cut the lead to 45-37 by the end of the third quarter. Liberty pushed the lead back to 12 when Harmon scored twice on putbacks.
The Cavaliers trimmed the lead to five with 1:33 left when Ted Price finished a three-point play with a free throw. Harmon missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:29 left, opening the door for JF to get within a field goal.
But Brandon Harrison, who scored a game-high 16 points, missed two free throws with 1:17 left. After another quick foul, Anthony Reynolds missed a free throw, and JF got the rebound. Barrett Farrar missed an open 3 from the right corner, and Liberty got the rebound.
Kordero Thompson then sank two free throws with 55.4 seconds left, pushing the lead to 58-51.
“We got some momentum late and got into position, but we took some ill-advised shots late,” Smith said. “We shouldn’t have been looking for the 3, and I think we took two or three in a row. If we could have just scored in those situations, we could have put a little more pressure on them.”
Price scored 15 points and hit 9 of 11 free throws for Jefferson Forest. Liberty got big contributions from Carlton Payne, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Thompson, who scored 12, and from forward Ryan Nichols, who scored all 11 of his points after halftime and hit 9 of 10 free throws.
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