GRAHAMSVILLE--Tri-Valley Central School senior Zach Nilsen celebrated an early 18th birthday this past Monday evening equaling his age by scoring 18-points as the Bears defeated Liberty 74-55 in a non-league game at Grahamsville.
Zack's birthday was actually yesterday (December 18) but grandparents Barbara and Ole Nilsen were in the stands displaying a large Happy Birthday banner because they would not be able to celebrate with grandson Zack on the 18th.
The win for Tri-Valley evens their overall record at 2-2. The two losses were in the Walton Tournament with the Bears losing to Sullivan West and Walton by only several points in each game.
Their first win came last week in a come-from-behind victory over Ellenville.
Liberty opened the scoring Monday night with a three-pointer by Stephen Johnson but Tri-Valley quickly answered with two three-pointers by Nilsen and Kainan Justiniano as the Bears went on to record six three-pointers by Niesen, Justiniano, Jarred James and Dion Lynch for a first quarter lead of 24-13.
Liberty came back to outscore Tri-Valley in the second quarter, 11-10 but the Bears took a 10-point 34-24 lead into the locker room at half time.
Tri-Valley increased its lead in the third quarter outscoring Liberty 17-15 taking a 51-39 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
The Bears coasted in the fourth quarter outscoring Liberty 23-16.
Liberty Coach Dave Slater in his post-game comments noted he " Has a young team comprised of mostly Junior's and we ran into a hot-shooting team that we just couldn't keep up with after they came out in the first quarter scoring six three-pointers."
"We made a couple of runs at them but we just didn't have enough to come over the top as we are a young inexperienced team," Slater said.
Tri-Valley coach Kyle Humphrey noting "it was a good sign that my team scored over 70 points and I loved the ball movement and we displayed a structured offense tonight."
Humphrey when asked if his team was now at full strength as several key players missed the first couple of games said, "we are almost at full strength missing just one player now."
When asked for his evaluation of the team at this point of the season entering their first league game against Tuxedo (last night) Humphrey praised his bench players who came into this game in the fourth quarter and played solid minutes. "I expect us to be a very talented team all year," Humphrey added.
Adding to the 18-point effort by Nilsen who chipped in with five three-pointers was senior Dion Lynch with 12 points and senior Jarred James with nine.
High scorer for Liberty was Stephen Johnson with 12 followed by Morris Schrader with 11 and Grant Harman with 10.
Liberty had 16 turnovers to Tri-Valley's 15.
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