LIBERTY -- Need relief? Take Bayer.

Millions have followed that simple advice and regained the ability to focus on the task at hand, no longer beleaguered by something that was making them feel less like themselves. For the Liberty Indians who marshaled a 64-50 non-league win over neighborhood nemesis Sullivan West, it was Senior Chris Bayer who would prove to be that miraculous agent of relief.

In the non-league game versus Sullivan West that had Liberty up by 25 at one juncture, Bayer's uncanny unleashing of eight three's was the prime mover for a Liberty team that graduated a spate of talent and is under the watchful eye of a new Coach in Mike Burke who replaces Justen Mills who moved out of the area. With the uncanny ability to spot up with virtually no time, he was firing perfect arcing shots that found the net from his launch points everywhere beyond the arc.

At times when Coach Burke sought to seat him, at those junctures, Sullivan West would roar back and shred the deficit nearly in half, propelled by the three-point shooting of Cody Powell who netted four from downtown, all in the second quarter. Bayer had only one trey in the second quarter in which he sat for most of the period.

Liberty, which improved to 5-1 on the season, its only loss coming against O'Neill, is gathering momentum with a cast of players who are involved and unhesitant when it comes to getting to the rim and/or finding the player who will.

Senior Kymanni Dennis added ten points as Liberty got points from nine different players on the night. They led from wire to wire with a 20-5 margin after one, 34-21 at the half, 49-34 after three. The lead burgeoned back to 23 in the fourth quarter until 4:37 when Burke removed his starters.

Sullivan West Coach John Meyer is blessed with fine athletes but few real basketball players. Practices have not been to his liking as the things he is trying to stress and improve don't seem to be gaining traction. For the Bulldogs, now 2-5, their playoff aspirations would seem to hinge on their remaining two league games. Either beat Tri-Valley (again) or Seward or the carriage to the Big Dance leaves without them. A tough schedule ahead against heavyweights like O'Neill, Monticello and Ellenville make the reaching of a .500 overall record seem incredibly daunting so it's the league games or bust.

Sullivan West got strong play in the paint from Senior Gabe Campanelli who like Powell, netted 14. Meyer noted, “we had a little life there at the end. Cody's shooting helped us in the second quarter but we just can't get behind 22-5. They showed me something in the second half that hopefully we can build on. We'll just keep working.”

With the game tonight at O'Neill, the challenge continues for Meyer and the Bulldogs.

Liberty's Coach Burke feels his defense needs more work. “Fifty points is too much as I told my team. That said they executed our game plan.” Burke anticipates a tough battle in tonight's league game against perennial powerful Chester.