Liberty Christian Restrains Wright, Beats St. Michael’s

A little defense can mean a lot of trouble for a team that relies primarily on one or two players for its scoring.

Liberty Christian proved it Tuesday when it held Jocques Wright, top scorer for St. Michael’s Prep, in check and coasted to a 74-54 Academy League victory at the South Coast YMCA.

The Minutemen (13-6, 4-2 in league) used a triangle-and-two defense to limit Wright to 17 points and create numerous scoring opportunities for themselves.

Wright, who tied a single-game school record Monday with 51 points against Cal Lutheran, was shadowed by Jeremy Anderson throughout the game and made only eight of 22 shots. He entered Tuesday’s game second in the county in scoring with a 27.1 average behind Liberty Christian’s Toby Curto (27.8).

“We started Jeremy Anderson on Wright, although he usually doesn’t start,” Liberty Christian Coach Rudy Sass said. “He’s my defensive specialist. He held Wright to 14 points last time.”

Liberty Christian won the first game between the teams this season, 71-61.

Curto, on the other hand, didn’t have much trouble meeting his scoring average Tuesday. He finished with a game-high 30 points, several of them on breakaway layups after missed shots by the Pioneers (9-10, 3-3).

Liberty Christian gradually pulled away in the third quarter behind the shooting of Curto (eight points).