Liberty, Staley advance to set up clash of top-five teams in C.W. Stessman Invitational championship game

Liberty and Staley cruised to easy wins in semifinal games Thursday night.

Nate Olson, SBLive Sports | Jan 21, 2022

Liberty, Staley advance to set up clash of top-five teams in C.W. Stessman Invitational championship game /

By Chris Geinosky| Photos by David Smith

LIBERTY — For the third year in a row, the Liberty and Staley boys basketball teams will meet in the final of the C.W. Stessman Invitational.

However, this next meeting at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Liberty High School Fieldhouse holds a bit more importance than the ones previous.

The host Blue Jays (15-0) own the No. 1 spot in the SBLive Missouri Top 25 power rankings, while Staley (14-2) comes in at No. 5.

“We told the guys after the game tonight, now we can talk about it,” Liberty head coach Roger Stirtz admitted. “This will be a fun high school basketball atmosphere.”

Oh, and by the way, these two teams are no strangers to one another. Not only are they separated by fewer than 10 miles, but these teams will also meet for the 10th time in the past four seasons.

“We know each other pretty well,” Staley head coach Chris Neff said. “This is a big game. The C.W. Stessman is a huge tournament, and it’s something we respect. I’ve had the good fortune to coach in this championship a number of different times, and it always excites me and the team that I’m coaching to be part of something this special. The crowd tomorrow night is going to be spectacular, and we need to play in that environment as much as we can. We look forward to the opportunity.”

Neff’s team advanced to the championship game on the strength of a 61-43 semifinal victory against William Chrisman (10-5). They did so thanks in large part to the work of one of the best inside-outside tandems in the state.

Junior point guard Kyan Evans and junior post Kayden Fish accounted for more than half of the Falcons points in the semifinal contest. Evans nailed his first three 3-point attempts of the night and tossed an alley-oop pass to Fish for a two-handed jam that put Staley up 11-2 to start the game.

Any time the Falcons needed a bucket to retain momentum, Evans and Fish provided the answer. Evans finished with a game-high 19 points, while the 6-foot-6 Fish ended up with 16, almost all of which came on an assortment of dunks and layups.

Staley opened a double-digit lead against William Chrisman in the first quarter and led 31-15 at the half. The Bears pulled within seven points at 33-26 midway through the third quarter, but Staley reestablished a 15-point lead, 43-28, by the end of the stanza.

Senior sharpshooter Asa Bridges, who added 12 points, nailed three of his four 3-pointers in the second half when Staley was able to regain control of momentum. Senior Dayne Herl scored 15 points and Cameron Dickerson added 14 points for Chrisman.

“We started well, and I was proud of the effort early in the game,” Neff said. “But it seemed like the game got away from us for a little bit in that third quarter, but we were able to settle down and get things flowing our way.”

Despite a slow start, Liberty eventually turned its semifinal game into an 81-50 blowout victory against Columbia Hickman (10-7). The Blue Jays found their stroke from long range, connecting on 14 3-pointers in the contest, one shy of the program’s single-game record.

Nursing a 15-12 lead after the first quarter, Liberty scored 35 points in 10 game minutes to open a commanding 50-23 cushion two minutes into the second half. The senior-laden Jays hit seven 3-pointers during the game-changing stretch.

“It took a little while for us to figure out their defense in the first quarter,” Liberty senior Bennett Stirtz said. “They were doubling us in the lane, and we were having trouble getting to the basket. Once we figured it out, we were able to find guys wide open.”

And everyone was knocking down shots. Six different Blue Jays hit at least one 3-ball in the game, and it couldn’t have happened on a better night, considering Liberty was without the services of senior Karson Milbrandt, who was taking an official college visit with the University of Vanderbilt baseball program.

Stirtz nailed four from downtown as he finished with a game-high 23 points. Senior Spencer Blaine also canned four trifectas as he finished with a career-high 18 points. Senior Luke Stubbs tossed in 12 points, and junior Kai Bennett added 11 points (and three 3-pointers) in his first career start.

Up by as many as 28 points in the third quarter, Hickman went on a run to close the gap to 14 at 60-46 in the fourth. However, Liberty closed out the contest on a 21-4 run that eventually induced a running clock.

“I’ve trusted a lot of teams in the past, but I’ve never trusted a team more than this group,” Roger Stirtz said. “They’re able to figure some things out on the fly. I’ve never called fewer timeouts in a season because they’re smart, they’re always aware of the situation, and they’re able to figure it out on their own.”

In one consolation semifinal, Olathe Northwest held off Leavenworth, 49-42, in a battle of teams from Kansas. Senior Zaid Dajani, who made the Stessman All-Tournament Team last year, poured in a game-high 20 points for Northwest while Jaikuan Darthard led Leavenworth with 15.

In the other game of the night, Belton turned away Kansas City East, 60-29. Naheim Northern had a big night in the paint, finishing with 25 points while Gio Mack chipped in 17.