You can say that Chad Landis exhaled a sigh of relief following last Friday's 60-58 victory over Bethlehem Catholic. That's because despite Becahi suffering through a 3-11 season, Landis knew that records don't matter when it comes to city rivalries.

And that played out to be true, as the game went the distance, as Chance Neilley's contested three-point attempt at the buzzer fell off the rim to give Liberty (10-4, 9-1) the victory.

Prior to the final shot of the game, Neilley was the victim of being stripped of the ball on the Hawks final possession out of their timeout with 37 seconds left with the game tied at 58. As the clock ticked down to the 10 second mark, Liberty trapped Neilley near midcourt where Amir Griffin stole the ball and drove to the hoop for the winning field goal.

"Anytime you play Freedom or Becahi, it's a whole different ball game," said Landis. "We knew that they [Becahi] would most likely hold for the final shot, so we let them get settled in and at a certain point we ran a guy at him [Neilley] and it may have caught him by surprise and it worked out for us."

Becahi jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game, as Neilley led all scorers with a game-high 20 points. The Hawks were without Freddie Simmons, who was on a college football visit in Florida, but maintained a 36-29 lead at the half.

Liberty would outscore the Hawks 19-8 in the third quarter, sparked by a 12-0 run to open the period, as an Anthony Miller (18 points) bucket gave Liberty a 41-36 lead midway through the period, as the 'Canes led 48-43 after three quarters.

A Neilley three-pointer with 5:15 in the fourth gave Becahi the lead again at 52-50 before Liberty would take control again two minutes later at 56-53. Neilley would be Becahi's savior again, as his floater gave the Hawks their final lead of the game to make it 57-56 with just under two minutes left in the game.

After trading free throws to tie the game at 58, it came down to Becahi's final possession, which didn't work out for head coach Mike Frew.

"They were running guys at us the last couple minutes and we knew that coming out of the timeout," Frew said. "We didn't want to have the ball over there on the sideline and turning the ball over there certainly seems like a big moment in the game, but Chance was the reason we were in this game till the end. He played great for us."

Jaevan Dobbins also chipped in 18 points for the Hurricanes, while DeAndre Tillett was the only other Hawk to hit double figures with 12 points.

Liberty would go on to lose at Williamsport on Saturday 63-55, but have already clinched a district playoff berth. Becahi now sits at 2-7 in the EPC with six of their final seven contests within the league. The Hawks need to go 6-1 down the stretch in order to qualify for the postseason, but Frew knows Friday's battle helped push the Hawks into the right direction moving forward.

"We played with incredible heart," Frew said. "A game ago, we would have packed it in, but we rose to the occasion. I thought that we came in as a team and left as a team and our guys gave everything they had on the court. The kids are believing and starting to buy into what it takes to be successful."