The Liberty Christian boys basketball team will see a familiar face in the first round of the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic Association 2A state tournament.

The No. 2  seeded Eagles face No. 7 Christian Academy of Greater St. Louis Thursday in Joplin.

The Eagles (22-7) lost the only meeting between the  teams Dec. 1, 56-46, and lost two straight games to end the regular season.

“I probably would have seeded us fourth or fifth with the way we’ve played the last month,” Liberty Christian Head Coach Butch Clark said.

Clark’s squad has lost six of its last 11 games, and struggled last weekend in the Metro Athletic Conference Tournament on its way to a fourth-place finish.

In the third-place game loss to Rivers of Life, Clark saw a team similar to what the Eagles will see Thursday.

“The teams we’ve struggled against this year are tall and long,” he said. “We have a tendency to stay on the perimeter and not attack the basket on offense and not box out on defense. Those combinations just kill you.”

Clark noted that six of his team’s seven losses have come against bigger teams.

The Eagles are led down low by 6-foot-4 junior forward Kameron Bagby, who averages 7.9 points and 6.9 rebounds.

CAGSL (14-14) will counter with 6-foot-3 senior forward Daniel Youngblood, who enters the tournament with 19.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per outing.

“He’s a good athlete and he’s the type of kid that nobody wants blocking their shot,” Clark said.

Youngblood finished with 20 points and 17 rebounds in the teams’ first meeting.

Clark hopes his team’s struggles against bigger teams don’t continue Thursday night.

“Our problem is sometimes we do all our fighting on the boards after they grab the offensive rebound, and not when the shot goes up,” he said. “And you just get in foul trouble doing that.”

Despite Bagby’s size in the paint, Liberty Christian has been outmatched down low much of the season.

Clark countered that with an up-tempo offense predicated on turning teams over and scoring in transition.

Guards Andrew Voss, Jake Pietzman, Brendan Dickson and Logan Hart have helped push the tempo at every opportunity.

At times, though, the urge to create a fastbreak has led to giving up offensive rebounds, which have killed the Eagles.

“We give up size just about every game we play, but you can’t give up position, too,” Clark said. When we started boxing out, we started grabbing rebounds. You can’t teach size, but you can have more heart than your opponent.”

Clark said CAGSL was a tough draw for a No. 2 seed, and a team that could easily win the tournament.

If the Eagles hang on, they would play Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the semifinals.

“We’re going to have to play some really good basketball for three straight days, which is the tough part. But the good news is, we’re capable of that,” Clark said. “If you’re going to win something that means anything, you should have to beat someone who is good.”