Massillon Nips Louisville 64-60
Massillon 64, Louisville 60
The Louisville Leopards Boys Varsity Basketball team was nipped by the Massillon Tigers 
64-60 Saturday Night at Louisville High School. With the loss, Louisville drops to 1-3 overall on the season.
One night after scoring 39 at Salem, Chris Libertore returned home to pour in a game-high 38 points to lead the Leopards. Derek Zeller also dropped in double digits with 11 and both Jared Mathie & Brandon Wahl finished with 4 a piece.
The Tigers led from the opening tip and took a 46-42 lead into the fourth quarter. The Leopards took their first lead of the contest at 51-49 after Libertore made a pair of technical foul shots. The shots were part of a 10-1 Louisville run that gave the Leopards their largest lead of the game at 54-49.
Massillon answered with their own run to claim the lead at 55-54. However, buckets by Bryce Zuppe and then Zeller put the Leopards back in front 58-56 with 1:32 to go. On the ensuing possession, the Tigers took the lead back when Martin canned a three-ball from the right corner.
Louisville turned the ball over on the other end and Massillon missed a pair of free throws in response. The Leopards went ahead 60-59 when Libertore swished a jumper from the left elbow with 34 seconds to play. But the Tigers again had an answer on the other end with Berry scoring on a wild layup while being fouled. He converted the extra free throw to put Massillon ahead 62-60 with 21.5 seconds remaining in the contest.
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The Leopards had a chance to win it in the next possession, but a good look three-point attempt missed off the left side of the rim. A scramble for the loose ball on the final rebound found the hands of the Tigers Streeter who passed it to Berry for more free throws.
Berry missed the first and was called for a crossing the line on the second shot. He finished 6 of 17 from the line in the fourth quarter alone with 12 of his team-high 18 points coming in the final period. With two seconds left, Berry intercepted the final Louisville inbound and laid it in the hole before time expired to clinch the game.
The game was a slugfest as the two teams combined for 47 fouls and attempted a total of 56 free throws. The Leopards converted 15 of 22 (68%) shots from the line, while the Tigers made just 12 of 34 (35%) from the charity stripe. The two squads were in the bonus most of the evening.
Other key contributors for Massillon were Kirksey with 17 and Martin with 8. Martin and Streeter made 2 three-pointers each. The Leopards now trail the all-time series against the Tigers 5-15, which includes a 2-6 record in games played at Louisville.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the West Branch Warriors on Friday, December 16. JV will begin at 6:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 7:30 PM.
