It was the end of the road for Liberty's basketball team over the weekend, as the Hurricanes lost to Williamsport 62-60 in the opening round of the PIAA 4A tournament.

It was a rough weekend for Bethlehem teams, as Freedom and Bethlehem Catholic saw their seasons end as well in the state tournament.

Liberty head coach Chad Landis felt that 2013 was a successful year for his crew despite having an early exit from states, but wished Saturday's affair would have ended differently.

"It's tough because we had the lead late and we turned it over a couple times to really give it away," Landis said. "We prepared for some of the defensive pressure they were going to put on us and we just weren't able to execute."

Liberty led by two entering the fourth quarter and held a late lead until two turnovers turned the game on its head to move the Millionaires on in the state tournament and send Liberty home.

Deshawn Oyeniyi led the 'Canes with 19 points, followed by 15 points from K.J. Williams.

They are the two main components of this year's roster that will return next year after the Hurricanes graduate five seniors, including Greg Noack, Pat Donnelly, Joel Torres, Chevon Williams and Nick Vigilanti.

"We're going to build around Deshawn and K.J. next year and we have to find the pieces to put around them," Landis said. "We had 16 guys on the roster during the playoff run, so we're going to need people to step up and fill in roles."

Liberty's season ends with a 19-9 record, as well as winning the Lehigh Valley Conference championship.

If the Hurricanes would have won on Saturday, they would have faced a monumental task of taking on state favorite, Chester, in today's second round of the tournament. Chester beat Cumberland Valley 74-43 in the opening round.

Despite falling short of winning a district championship and having a first round exit in states, Landis doesn't feel this season was a disappointment for the team.

"I thought it was a good year for us," he said. "We played good basketball down the stretch and were very competitive in the district. We just didn't play our best in crunch time and as of late. The guys did a good job of sticking together throughout all the bumps in the road. We all just wish we could have kept things going a little bit longer."