Liberty rides King to tourney semifinals

Liberty post player Justin King is only 6 feet 3 inches tall, but he has broad shoulders.

On Thursday, those shoulders were broad enough to carry the Patriots into the semifinals of the Sierra Vista Invitational.

King had 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Patriots defeated Sierra Vista 77-68 in the tournament quarterfinals. He had 20 points in the first half.

“He’s been our workhorse the last couple years,” Liberty coach Pat Welby said. “He does a great job not only scoring but rebounding. He’s always one of the top rebounders in town, so he does a great job on both ends of the floor for us.”

Liberty will play Cimarron-Memorial in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. today. Cimarron beat the Patriots 69-59 in pool play Thursday before Liberty rebounded against the Lions.

“It shows the character of this team,” Welby said. “And I think we’re coming together more and more as the season progresses.”

The Patriots led 38-22 at halftime before Sierra Vista made a run. But the Lions got no closer than eight points and hurt themselves with atrocious free-throw shooting, going 7-for-25 (28 percent).

“We were able to kind of weather the storm and we got through it and came out on top,” Welby said.

Kenneth Peters had 19 points and six assists for Liberty, and Milos Knezevic had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Josh McLain led the Lions with 27 points.

• Cimarron-Memorial 87, Boulder City 44 — The Spartans led by two points after one quarter before turning the game into a rout.

Tyler Tuliau had 16 points, six assists and two blocked shots for Cimarron, which outscored the Eagles 47-14 in the middle quarters.

Mike Cutright had 15 points and three blocked shots, and Andre Vickers scored 15 for the Spartans.

Jeremy Smith led Boulder City with 13 points and seven rebounds.

• Coronado 68, Clark 47 — Coronado closed the first quarter on a 17-2 run and never looked back.

Christian Hatch paced the Cougars with 12 points, and Thomas Tebbs and Cory Ford each scored 10. The Cougars will play Valley in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. today.

Isidro Garcia led the Chargers with 15 points.

• Valley 59, Arbor View 52 — Cordero Harris had 12 points and 14 rebounds to help the Vikings into the semifinals.

Deante Jones scored 19 for Valley. Brooks Robinson led Arbor View with 16 points.

In pool play:

• Cimarron-Memorial 69, Liberty 59 — Cutright scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half as the Spartans rallied from a 34-32 halftime deficit.

Tuliau had 15 points for Cimarron, and teammate Dale Puckett had 10 points and 14 rebounds.

King led Liberty with 23 points.

• Valley 39, Clark 37 — Johnquez Brooks scored 12 points to help the Vikings hold off the Chargers.

Garcia had 14 points for Clark.

• Coronado 72, Arbor View 54 — The Cougars made 18 of 20 shots in the first half to build a 42-21 halftime edge.

Hatch had 25 points and 12 rebounds for Coronado, and Ford scored 14. Darrington Banks led Arbor View with 21 points.

• Sierra Vista 63, Boulder City 40 — Amir Garrett had 18 points and McLain scored 17 as the Lions rolled in their final pool game.

Smith scored 16 for the Eagles.

OTHER GAMES

• Centennial 40, Cedar (Utah) 38 — At Cedar City, Utah, Matt Holley scored nine points, and the Bulldogs held off a late Redmen rally.

Anthony Consiglio hit a free throw with 12 seconds left to give Centennial a two point lead.

• Faith Lutheran 67, Green Valley 55 — At Faith Lutheran, the Crusaders went 17-for-22 at the free-throw line.

Conner Maloney had 16 points for Faith Lutheran, and Diontea Wright and Chase Saunders each scored 14. Cody Aughney led Green Valley with 12 points.

• Ballard (Ky.) 89, Canyon Springs 66 — At Phoenix, Ballard outscored Canyon Springs 53-27 in the middle two quarters to pull away in the North Invitational.

Raveon Samuel led the Pioneers with 19 points.