Carlisle comes back against Liberty Christian, 78-69
Liberty Christian (FL) was able to build a big early lead against Carlisle (VA), but the Chiefs slowly chipped away at the deficit before taking control late in the third quarter to win 78-69 in second round action of the John Wall bracket at the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational.
After falling to Orangeville Prep on Saturday night, Carlisle head coach Jason Niblett was happy to come away with a win.
"It was another great game out there today. We're just happy to get a win," Niblett said. " We're happy to bounce back from Saturday."
Liberty jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, and held onto the lead for the remainder of the second half, leading 40-36 at halftime.
A third quarter comeback by the Chiefs allowed them to take their first lead of the game at 52-50. Carlisle led the rest of the way, building as much as an 11 point advantage.
"Just give effort and play hard, that's all I ask of our players," Niblett said. "Do that and the results will come."
Quentin Jackson led Carlisle with 20 points and Kaleb Johnson added a double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds. In all, five Chiefs finished in double figures.
Liberty Christian's 7 foot 5 inch center Tack Fall led all scorers with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Through two games at the Holiday Invitational, Fall has 40 rebounds, good enough for 13th in tournament history. He sits just 17 back from the record with one game remaining.
Fall also finished with 7 blocks.
Liberty Christian struggled with turnovers, finishing with 18, which head coach Tony Atkins said was a big reason for the loss.
"The death of us has been turnovers in this tournament," Atkins said. "It's very uncharacteristic of us.
"We just didn't do what coach asked us to do," Fall said. "It was a mess in the second half."
Carlisle will move forward and play in the fifth place game tomorrow against either Ravenscroft or Virginia Episcopal.
"We just have to finish strong and get that second win tomorrow," Jackson said.
