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LIBERTY EDGES EU FOR TITLE
Stifling press kept Lancers at bay during Tracy finale
EU tracy invite
East Union's Anthony Sy (5) drives on Liberty's Julian Costa during the Tracy Winter Holiday Classic championship.

TRACY – Liberty used a stifling press to close out the first quarter Saturday on a 9-0 run and almost matched that in the second period with an 8-0 half-ending run on the way to a 46-42 win over East Union for the championship of the 31st Tracy Holiday Winter Classic in Thornton Gym at West High.

“We knew they were going to pressure us the whole game,” Lancers coach Charles Legan said. “I thought we handled that very well the first five or six minutes.

“They had a little more depth than we did so eventually they just kind of wore us down.”

East Union’s Dylan Lee was named to the All-Tournament team, scoring nine of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter that saw the Lancers (5-4) trim a nine-point deficit to start the period to just three on Lee’s put-back with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, East Union would not score again.

“I thought we played hard all tournament,” Lee said. “We have to pick up on some little things, but besides that, we worked hard all tournament.”

The Lions (5-2) of Brentwood were led by tournament Most Valuable Player Julian Costa with 10 points.

Once Brentwood took the lead early in the second period it used the press to keep the lead the rest of the way.

“Our game plan was to be aggressive the whole game,” Lions coach Jon Heinz said. “We thought we had a deeper bench then them so if we could wear out their starters we could outlast them over time.

“I am going to give East Union a ton of credit. They were super disciplined, they were tough and they really hammered us on the boards. We didn’t get many second opportunities because they handled their business on the boards. We were up 12 and then we made mental mistakes and they made some big shots.”

Bryan Howe (seven rebounds, four steals) added 10 points for the Lancers and drew three charging fouls. Anthony Sy flirted with a double-double at nine points and nine rebounds. Luke Weaver (three points) chipped in eight rebounds, an assist and a block and Lee had five rebounds and three assists.   

East Union hosts West of Tracy on Wednesday at 7 p.m.