The annual basketball tournament at the beginning of the season took place Nov. 29-Dec. 1 and the Liberty Eagles C-team brought home the 1st place trophy winning all of their games. The C-team, coached by Coach Luedecke is currently undefeated at 9-0 and is on a great run. These young men work very hard at practice to perfect their craft in the game of basketball and will do anything they can to make sure they can secure the win on game day.

The team manager, Leo Fournelle went into the tournament believing that they could pull out the victory and that’s exactly what they did. We asked Leo what it’s like being the manager of the C-team and he had this to say, “It’s pretty fun you know?” Leo’s final season record prediction is “26-0.” He’s very confident in this team and what they can do. Fournelle says he’s very excited for the rest of the season and what it will bring for him and the team.

Going into the tournament, freshman point guard Noah Green’s only goal was to come out with the tournament win and they did just that.

“I think we’re doing good, playing as a team,” Green said. He knew they had a good chance of winning the whole thing if the team played together and no one played selfish. Green is one of the many leaders on the freshman C-team and in most games scores.

Freshman point guard Liam Johnson, who came into the tournament not knowing for sure if they could pull out the victory and win the whole thing, did think they were going to fly right through the tournament. The team had what it takes to win the tournament but Johnson wasn’t 100% sure if they could take home first place.

“I think we work well together and we have good team chemistry,” Johnson said.

Coach Luedecke is impressed with his team and how their season is going. “I think it’s going pretty well, had a great start we’re 8-0 and hopefully we can continue to do that,” Luedecke said.  His favorite school to play against in the tournament was Zumwalt South.

“I love beating Fort Zumwalt South cause it’s always been a good rivalry,” Luedecke said. “They’ve always been good and we’ve been laying it on them the last couple years.” Luedecke said.

The team has gone against nine different schools, including: Washington, Timberland, Orchard Farm, Lutheran, Saint Louis University High, Rockbridge, Fort Zumwalt North, Fort Zumwalt South, and their most recent win coming from Holt.

Luedecke hopes that his team can remain undefeated and finish the season undefeated, but doesn’t think it’ll happen. He thinks having good team chemistry, working hard, and playing as a team are the most important things to do in order to win a basketball game. He said that this is a good team and they work very hard together, but there still is a lot to learn.