Heart of a Champion: Liberty forced to dig deep against McKinley to defend East Baton Rouge Parish Title

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Liberty Magnet guard Malek Robinson said the team’s resolve is developed in the offseason during summer conditioning drills on the Mississippi River levee.

It’s given head coach Brandon White a clear indication of the type of player capable of playing for the reigning Division I select state champions.

“Coach pushed us and made sure we didn’t quit on ourselves,” Liberty senior guard Malek Robinson said. “He said if you quit one time you’ll quit again.”

It was during the summer’s unrelenting heat when White began piecing together his latest team, one that wouldn’t quite rival last year’s state champion in overall size and experience. 

But the Patriots still have plenty of heart which was on display in the final of Monday’s East Baton Rouge/Bob Pettit boys basketball tournament at Woodlawn High School.

No. 1 seed Liberty fell behind by as many as 12 points, including nine at halftime, before storming back in the second half with tournament MVP Robinson and Devin Houston to repeat as city champions with a 69-57 victory over second-seeded McKinley.

“The parish championship is real big because a lot of these guys grew up playing against one another in youth league,” White said. “They went to middle school with each other and now are representing their high school.

“I told them this would be a game they’ll be talking about for the next 20-30 years amongst each other,” White said. “The East Baton Rouge tournament is always a big-time tournament and a challenging one. A lot of teams come here and compete very hard. “

Not only did Liberty (12-1) successfully defend its parish championship, but Robinson was the event’s MVP for the second straight year. He scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, while Houston had 11 of his 13 in the final 16 minutes.

Senior guard Kareem Washington added 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, for the Patriots who are 8-0 against in-state competition.

“It means a lot with all the hard work I’ve put in,” Robinson said of the MVP honor. “I won it last year, so I was coming for it again.”

McKinley (10-6), which lost to Liberty 70-66 on Dec. 11, led 29-17 late in the second quarter and held an 11-point lead (33-22) in the first minute of the third quarter.

The Panthers led for nearly 20 minutes until the extreme heat of the Patriots’ full-court pressure began taking its toll and forced 10 of their 17 turnovers in the second half.

“We were doing a decent job, but whatever it was it was like we threw it right to them,” McKinley coach Devin Clark said. “Turning the basketball affected us and there were times we threw it right to them.”

Liberty made a run at McKinley with a 12-2 run midway through the third quarter and trailed 35-34 after Craig Lovelady’s hook shot in the lane with just under four minutes left.

McKinley maintained a one-point lead on two more occasions when Robinson’s 5-foot bank cut the Panthers’ lead to 45-43 heading into the fourth quarter.

“I have a group of (six) seniors and they’re some of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached,” White said. “At halftime I challenged them. I think McKinley did a great job of executing early, played physical and aggressive against us early. We had to figure some things out at halftime and made some adjustments, and those seniors came out and answered.”

Robinson fed Washington for a 3-pointer that gave Liberty its first lead since an early 5-4 edge in the first five minutes of play.

The Patriots trailed for nearly 20 minutes until Washington’s trey and the senior followed with a fastbreak layup for a 48-45 lead.

“Kareem Washington stepped up tonight and had a huge game for us,” White said.
Robinson’s 3-pointer fueled Liberty’s 10-0 run to start the quarter and Houston added a pair of free throws to make it 53-45 with 5:18 to play.

The Patriots outscored the Panthers 31-12 since trailing by 11 points 13 minutes earlier in the game.

“When we get in front, coach says don’t look back,” Robinson said. “We just stayed on top of them.”

Liberty forced six turnovers in the quarter and limited McKinley to 4 of 10 shooting in the last eight minutes.

Jayden Williams topped the Panthers with 14 points, while Evan Mouzon and Jamond Jacobs each scored 11. Lovelady, an all-tournament selection, added six.

Liberty’s all-tournament choice Chivas Lee came up with a steal and layup as part of his eight-point output for an 11-point lead (60-49) that forced McKinley to take a timeout.

The Panthers got the deficit down to single digits on two occasions with a 3-pointer from Kaleb Brown narrowing the Patriots’ margin to 62-54 with 2:49 to play.

Robinson brought a jammed-packed crowd to its feet with an alley-oop to Kingston Jarrell for a slam dunk. Robinson then weaved his way to the basket for a layup and combined with Lee on 3 of 4 free throw shooting for a 69-54 cushion.

The Patriots were a perfect 6 of 6 from the field, shot 83.3% (15 of 18) in the second half and 55% (22 of 40) overall – including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

“I knew they were going to try and make me more of a scorer, make finish over their bigs,” said Robinson, whose team outscored McKinley 47-26 in the second half. “I got my teammates involved because I believe they can make shots. When they started making shots, they got me going and I started making shots.”