The Liberty Christian boys basketball team currently holds an 8-4 season record and are 4-1 in the Metro Athletic Conference. Despite some injuries, a young squad and a couple of tough losses, the Eagles are still vying for the conference tournament title. 

“It’s going to be tough. I think our best shot is in the conference tournament and I think we’re capable,” Head Coach Butch Clark said. “With our injuries that we've had, it’s allowed us to develop some depth out of necessity and we’ll have some kids that have gotten some court time that will help us later in the year.” 

The Eagles are currently third in the conference. They lost to Heritage Classical Christian Academy (6-0) 46-34, who currently rank first in the conference. In second is Westwood Baptist Academy (5-0) who the Eagles will play later in the season on Jan. 17. 

Clark noted if the team is able to beat Westwood and Westwood goes on to beat Heritage, it will give them a better chance at taking the No. 1 spot in the conference standings. Liberty Christian will also have a chance in the conference tournament that is set to be played in February. 

The Eagles have dealt with injuries with two key players Tommy Meyer and Cruze Meyer, who both went down in the same week. 

Due to this, Clark has brought up junior varsity player Holdyn Brumagin, while Cooper Dickson, Cole Nelson and Tucker Wainscott have also stepped up to play some minutes. 

“They’ve all done a good job but you know it’s hard to replace a 6-foot-3 kid who’s capable of scoring double digits in points and rebounds,” Clark said. 

Clark also noted the progress the team has made after the first six games compared to the last six games they have played. After their sixth game, they reevaulated where they were after averaging 23.5 rebounds and around 45 points per game. 

“We have been able to cut our turnovers down. We went from 23 and a half down to 14 in the next six games. We picked up about nine points a game so that was good, but our shooting still is not,” Clark said. 

He went on to say that when the team returned to basic fundamentals, it was the key to lowering their turnover rate. Clark does want to see the number of turnovers still decrease to around 10 or 12, but still touted the improvement. 

With shooting, Clark noted they are shooting at a higher percentage but they are taking less shots at the free throw line and three-point line. Due to this, the Eagles will be focusing the majority of their winter break on shooting and mechanics. 

“We run the court well and when you’re running the court well, you do a lot of things well, but when you’re not knocking down shots, it’s hard to feel too good about it,” Clark said. “We have kids that I think are pretty good shooters, but we’re just not knocking down good shots on a regular basis.” 

Clark specified their double-overtime loss to Wellsville-Middletown as an example, noting they had a couple of chances to win the game at the free-throw line but they were unable to execute. 

Before the season started, Clark stated that he was optimistic about the team. He remains optimistic, but is also feeling realistic as well. With a young team full of talent and a loaded sophomore class, Clark wants to see them mature a bit more in the years to come. 

“It’s a good mix of kids and some of our freshmen that are coming up are pretty good. But, we have a lot of sophomores and you get erratic play with them a lot of times. You know, they are not going to be as consistent as seniors,” Clark said. “I still think we’re going to be competitive this year and I think we have an outside shot of winning our conference tournament.” 

Liberty Christian will play next at Eagle Ridge Christian, a conference opponent, on Jan. 3 at 6:30 p.m.