LIBERTY – The Liberty Redhawks boys’ basketball team won their season opener handily Friday night, beating the visiting Tri-Valley Bears 80-39. Liberty fans were out in force to cheer their team on, excited for the new season and the prospects of their talented team.

It was the first game of the season for both squads as they struggled to find an offensive flow during the opening minutes. The Redhawks finally hit a stride, driven by their defense by creating multiple turnovers.

Redhawks’ guards Adrian Ferguson, Tylo Aubain and Cam Lawson kept pressure on the Tri-Valley ball handlers forcing several steals and traps to disrupt the Bears on offense.

On defense, Liberty’s big men controlled the boards not allowing second chances for the visiting Bears. 

Liberty’s Adrian Ferguson led all scorers with 26, followed by teammate Zack Alvord with 20 points, including four from three-point range. The Bears were led by Robert Kopp who scored 11 points, three of which were from beyond the arc, and Yan Zheliazouski with 10 points. 

Tri-Valley head coach Tylor Irwin’s said, “We’re young, we only have one senior and we’re playing up a class, they’re a class B team, so it’s all about learning. We’re going to take it one game at a time, and we’ll grow from this. We made some adjustments at halftime, and we played better than we did in the first half. It’s our first game of the season, we learned a lot, now we just have to get ready for our next game.”

Liberty head coach Matt Robinson was satisfied, “We played hard, and we played well. We have athletic players who can really run and defend. That’s going to be our style; pressure defense, create turnovers, get easy baskets, and be able to shoot it from the perimeter.”