Liberty lets victory slip away

That’s what holiday tournaments are really about, and Liberty’s boys basketball team learned a few Wednesday.

Mostly, it learned about defense as Hermiston (Ore.) rallied for a 71-65 win in the Las Vegas Prep Championship at Las Vegas High School.

“We just couldn’t defend very well,” Liberty coach Pat Welby said. “We started off really well, but when you don’t defend, it’s tough.”

The Patriots allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 53 percent from the field. Liberty also didn’t have an answer for J.J. Ross, who scored 29 points.

Kenneth Peters did his best to give Liberty a shot. The junior guard tried to match Ross and finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Justin King had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Devon Gonzales added 10 points for the Patriots.

• Centennial 71, Peninsula (Calif.) 70 — At Las Vegas, Adam Young had 25 points and the Bulldogs survived in overtime.

Young hit two buckets in the first 1:30 of overtime to help Centennial take a six-point lead, and it made four free throws in the final 44 seconds to hang on.

Ben Vozzola had 13 points and Anil Kundanani scored 11 for the Bulldogs. Young and Matt Holley each grabbed eight rebounds.

• Eldorado 68, Hazard (Ky.) 60 — At Las Vegas, Curtis Malone had 22 points and Mitrell Clark scored 14 to lead the Sundevils.

• Bonanza 64, Palos Verdes (Calif.) 54 — At Las Vegas, Tomo Delp had 19 points and Matt Andrews scored 14 to lead the Bengals.

• Palo Verde 57, Carson (Calif.) 45 — At Las Vegas, David Rawlinson scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half to lead the Panthers.

Palo Verde’s Moses Morgan had 19 points, 10 coming after halftime.

• Hoover (Calif.) 61, Legacy 53 — At Las Vegas, the Longhorns blew an 11-point halftime lead and lost to the Cardinals.

Jevon Carmon had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the second half as Hoover rallied from a 33-22 halftime deficit.

• Bishop Gorman 76, Damien (Hawaii) 49 — At Honolulu, Kylel Coleman had 18 points and Blake Moore scored 15 to help the Gaels win in the Merv Lopes Tournament.

• Canyon Springs 63, Esperanza (Calif.) 51 — At Orange, Calif., Deremy Geiger had 21 points and six assists to lead the Pioneers in the Orange Holiday Tournament.

Raveon Samuel added 17 points and seven rebounds for Canyon Springs.

• Pleasant Grove (Utah) 83, Foothill 75 — At Palm Springs, Calif., C.J. Wilcox had 28 points to lead Pleasant Grove in the Desert Heat tournament.

Ben Green had 21 points and Earl Jones scored 17 for Foothill.

• Tech 50, River Valley (Ariz.) 43 — At Mountain View, Brandon Tiffany had 19 points to lead the Roadrunners to victory in the Vegas Invitational.

• Fairmont Prep (Calif.) 53, Spring Mountain 38 — At Mountain View, Sun Yoo scored 16 points to lead the Huskies past the Golden Eagles.

• Agassi Prep 81, Mountain View 62 — At Mountain View, Jacoby Whitehead had 17 points to lead the Stars past the Saints.

Deshawn Battle and Quincy Brown each added 16 points for Agassi. Mountain View’s Cortland LeBoeuf scored 19.

GIRLS

• Fairmont Prep (Calif.) 59, Agassi Prep 52 — At Mountain View, Jordan Esparza scored 31 points to lead the Huskies in the Vegas Invitational.

Mariah Harrison had 27 points for Agassi.

• Indian Springs 52, Shadow Ridge JV 25 — At Mountain View, Katelyn McClary had 17 points to lead the Thunderbirds.

• Jalisco State (Mexico) 77, Lake Mead 29 — At Mountain View, Jalisco State placed four players in double figures en route to the easy win.

Jenna Willis had 10 points for Lake Mead.

• Mountain View 62, Rancho JV 16 — At Mountain View, Randall Van Kempen had 18 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals to lead the Saints.