FROSH FALL 41-34 DUE TO SECOND HALF LIBERTY RUN

The Irish freshman team was outscored 30-16 in the second half and fell 41-34 at Liberty on Friday.

They took an 18-11 lead into the locker room at the half, fueled by three treys by Ryan Duncan. Jamyl Copeland chipped in 4 points, while Jeremie Nsumbu and Kris Simonton scored 2 apiece.

Liberty extended its defense and the Irish had a hard time maintaining possession. This allowed the Patriots to rally from a 21-11 deficit to a 26-25 lead at the end of three quarters. The run continued and they led 35-27 with under three minutes to go in the game.

The Irish made one more run at the Patriots, book-ended by scoring plays from Patrick Rooney. He hit a trey with 2:44 to go to cut the lead to 5 points and may a lay-up off a put back in the final minute that cut the lead to 36-34. It wasn’t enough, though; as the Irish were unable to hit any more shots and the Patriots hit their free throws.

Duncan led the Irish with 13 points. Others in the scoring column were: Nsumbu (6), Rooney (5), Copeland (4), Ryan Gibson (3) and Simonton (3).

The Irish fell to 10-3 overall and 9-3 in OCC Cardinal play after their second loss in a row. They have a non-league game at Dublin Coffman at 5:30 p.m. on February 10 and will play at home against Dublin Jerome at 4:30 p.m. on February 13.