Empty possessions and offensive rebounds led to a frustrated Warrenton locker room Friday night after a 65-52 loss to Liberty in the Warrenton Winter Classic Consolation game.

“The spirits aren’t very high right now,” Warrenton Head Coach Mike Uffmann said after the game.

The Warriors (4-6) scouted Liberty last month in the GAC/Suburban Shootout, and Uffmann knew his first priority was containing sophomore guard Kaleb Overall, who averages 17.3 points.

Warrenton’s Randy McRoberts guarded Overall most of the first quarter, holding him to two points.

“We had a great first quarter defensively,” Uffmann said. “But when you look on the flip side and see we only scored six, you know we aren’t doing something right offensively.”

Liberty deployed an extended 1-2-2 zone defense and zeroed in on Warrenton forwards Caleb Strauss and Trevor Alberternst, who struggled to  find open space all night.

The Warrenton offense abandoned Uffmann’s pound-it-inside strategy at times, settling for 3-pointers instead.

Strauss was still able to finish 19 points.

“We talk about being efficient all the time,” he said. “Those 3-pointers really shouldn’t come until the ball has gotten into the paint or until it’s been reversed, and tonight we didn’t do either of those a lot of the time.”

Uffmann believes his team’s rushed offense was a direct result of a patient Liberty offense.

The Eagles were deliberate with their possessions, holding the ball for over a minute on numerous occasions in the first half while extending their lead to 25-18 at halftime.

“Last night (against Elsberry), the 3s we made were from ball reversal and moving the ball inside and out,” Uffmann said. “Tonight, we shot it after one or two passes because we were panicking.”

Warrenton began trapping out of a zone defense in the second half, but was unable to make a dent in the deficit.

The trap turned into a full-court man-to-man press in the fourth quarter, which woke up a sleeping Overall.

“We probably would have gone out in a zone press, but at that point the time was already ticking off,” Uffmann said. “We just couldn’t keep (Overall) in front of us. You can’t give a guy like that open floor, and that’s what we did.”

Overall finished with 21 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter.

Offensively, the Warriors continued to struggle in the second half, missing 11 free throws.

“We panicked a little more in the second half, and we have to get to a point where that stuff doesn’t wear you down,” Uffmann said. “The physical mistakes are going to happen, but you have to clean up the mental mistakes, because those are the ones you can control.”

The Warriors will get another shot at Liberty Thursday at home in a Gateway Athletic Conference showdown.

Uffmann hopes fatigue won’t be a factor this time around.

“I thought we were flat from the start,” he said. “They made us work with those long possessions in the first half, and I think that wore us down in the end mentally and physically. We were definitely fatigued there in the end.”

Warrenton's Randy McRoberts finishes in the lane Friday night against Liberty. Warrenton lost, 65-52.          Kory Carpenter photo.