The final score may have been one of the few positives on Thursday night for the Warrenton boys basketball team.The Warriors overcame a poor shooting performance and a rebounding struggle to survive a GAC road trip to Wentzville Liberty with a 50-46 victory.“It was ugly as far as the points go,” said Coach Mike Uffmann. “We missed 12 close-range shots, three feet or in from the basket, in the first half. That tells us the process is there, but we’re just not finishing around the rim.”It was Warrenton’s first conference game away from its homecourt this season, and the Warriors were calling on several underclassmen to step up in the absence of senior guard Ryan Bradshaw, who missed the game due to disciplinary actions.“We had a really young roster in this game, and we were asking a lot of some pretty young guys,” said Uffmann.It found the Warriors facing an early deficit, as they became impatient on offense and careless with shot selection. Furthermore, Warrenton’s trio of 6-foot-4-plus post players had trouble corralling the ball, which Uffmann says was a product of technique.“Instead of just boxing out and going to get the rebound, we tried to out-jump them,” said Uffmann. “They got us on a couple of offensive rebounds that way, which extended some of their possessions as well.”The Warriors attacked the lane to no avail in the first half, falling behind 13-7 after one quarter and 24-16 by halftime following a 30 percent shooting performance.Liberty effectively sealed off the paint, contesting each of the Warriors’ shots. On the contrary, Uffmann felt his team hadn’t brought enough defensive intensity in the opening two quarters.“We addressed that the process is there and to keep working it,” said Uffmann. “We wanted to pick it up defensively.”Uffmann says his team finally hit the outside shots it needed to draw the defense out.“They were packed so far in, somebody had to knock down some outside shots,” said Uffmann. “We hit all five of our threes in the second half.”Warrenton began to claw away at the deficit in the third period, cutting the deficit to 37-34.“We started making shots, and we got to the free-throw line a whole lot more,” said Uffmann. “That also came with working the ball inside.”Senior Alec Tonioli watched most of his shots bounce off the rim in the first half, but he would eventually finish with 25 points, knocking down all four of his three-point attempts in the second half. He also converted more on his drives to the bucket.“Tonioli did a much better job of getting in the lane, and his threes were on,” said Uffmann.Vardiman gained control of the glass in the fourth quarter, hauling down a total of 16 boards and earning three trips to the line late.The Warriors hit a less-than-superior 13 of 23 attempts at the line but hit the most critically-timed ones.“We rebounded better too,” said Uffmann. “Craig was a force on the offensive boards. He had inside position, so we had more confidence shooting, because we knew if we missed, there was a good chance Craig was going to end up getting it.”Sophomore Trevor Alberternst and freshman Randy McRoberts each netted seven points.The win came after a disappointing loss at home to Orchard Farm and improved the Warriors to 9-4.“We didn’t want to lose two in a row,” quipped Uffmann. “It took us so long to win one conference game, and we didn’t want to wait another 40 games.”Warrenton is preparing to enter the Hermann Tournament next week, where it will open against as the No. 1 seed against Chamois at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.WARRIORS TRIUMPH AT LIBERTYDerrick Forsythe photo.