Editor's note: Wednesday's game between Liberty and Whitehall took place after Press deadlines.

It's been a trying season for Liberty's basketball team, but the Hurricanes (11-11) keep their nine-year district playoff streak going, as they took on Whitehall in an eight-nine matchup on the Zephyrs court Wednesday night.

The Hurricanes lost 57-53 to the Zephyrs (13-9) back on January 4 and will be without the services of KJ Williams, who has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Williams was the 'Canes second-leading scorer on the team, averaging 14.9 points a game, as well as being the most prolific back-court threat Liberty had to offer.

He scored 13 and 16 points respectively for the Hurricanes against Freedom and Pocono Mountain West, before not playing in the team's 49-45 regular season finale win over Phoenixville last week.

The victory clinched a playoff berth for Liberty, who will now look to their interior game with forwards DeShawn Oyeniyi and the emerging Jaevan Dobbins, to lead them into the postseason.

"We've definitely had our share of luck getting into districts by getting the Phoenixville game in," said head coach Chad Landis, who had to cancel a game with Spring-Ford three times because of weather related issues before getting Phoenixville late in the season to agree to a game. "Now, we need to find a way to beat Whitehall, because we struggled with their matchup zone last time we saw them and we missed a lot of shots around the rim."

Landis said there are similarities between both programs, as both teams started the season well, but tailed off towards the end of the year.

Without Williams in the backcourt, the focal point will now be on Liberty's inside game, which has proven to be dynamic as of late.

Oyeniyi is the team's leading scorer at 17.4 per contest, while Dobbins has scored over 20 points in two of the last three games.

He had a career-high 10 field goals in a 20-point effort over Phoenixville to give Liberty a difficult matchup for any opposing team in the 4A bracket inside.

How the 'Canes fare with their guard play is now the real question.

"We're going to need a group effort in the backcourt now," Landis said. "We'll be looking to Izaiah Avent, Ludwin Gonzalez and Deron Seaman to get minutes and play better for us. We're going to need something from them if we want to move forward."