The Liberty Hurricanes cleared their first hurdle toward a state championship with a 61-52 first-round victory over Wilkes-Barre in the PIAA Class 6A state boys basketball playoffs on March 7 at Liberty.

“It’s a new season,” said Liberty coach Nigel Long. “We just exited district playoffs, and we’re proud of that effort that we gave, but I thought that the kids, over the course of the week at practice, had great energy, and everybody was ready to go.”

Wilkes-Barre was just as ready, as Robert Fuentes scored six consecutive points in the opening minutes, and the Wolfpack maintained a lead throughout the first quarter and half of the second.

“It felt like they were the aggressor early on,” Coach Long said. “They were much more physical than we were. We wanted to get out to a fast start. We didn’t. Credit Wilkes-Barre. They were ready to go there. When you’re this late into the season, you can’t have those starts that we had today.”

Liberty junior Samir Brown sparked the Hurricanes off the bench with points to end the first quarter and start the second quarter.

“At the start of every game, my coaches tell me to come in strong off the bench with the same energy as the starters, and that’s the main focus,” Brown said.

Brown tipped a Wilkes-Barre pass and took it downcourt for a layup.

“Being locked-in in the moment, our athleticism overpowered them,” he said. “I read the pass that he had, and I intercepted it and took it the other way for two points.”

Liberty guard Jake Pukszyn’s 3-pointer to bring the Hurricanes within three points led to an 8-0 run late in the second quarter.

Liberty held for the last shot before halftime, and Pukszyn scored on a drive at the buzzer.

“We believe that winning the end of quarters and beginning of quarters are what win close games, so we want to hold for the last shot, and when it gets to eight seconds, we’re trying to make something happen,” Pukszyn said. “It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling going into the half getting a bucket, so we had momentum going out.”

The Hurricanes outscored the Wolfpack, 12-7, in the third quarter, widening the gap on a nice feed from Brayden Kashner to Quin Lucas-Bishop, who had five points in the frame.

“We went up at half and wanted to keep our foot on the gas and not let the game come at any point where we had to think about winning or losing,” Brown said.

Wilkes-Barre pushed hard in the fourth quarter to make up for shots that weren’t falling in the third.

Fuentes had a layup off a steal and combined with Camrin Shovlin for eight points, but the Hurricanes had seen enough.

“They’re a really physical team and they play super hard, so we weren’t playing as hard in the first half, and they got some offensive rebounds, so we needed to get it together within and be resilient and play as a brotherhood and play harder,” said Pukszyn, who had a game-high 27 points. “They made shots and did things and made us struggle, but as a team, we knew we should’ve been playing harder in the first place.”

Pukszyn completed a three-point play, and Kashner had a day under the basket on a pass from Jarrell Teague followed by two more buckets as the sophomore forward was left alone underneath.

The Hurricanes will meet Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the second round on March 11 at Pottstown High School.

“As you advance, you’re playing better teams, and we’re the final 16, so really for us, it’s gonna be fast starts and then that physicality and that toughness, being able to handle that over the course of 32 minutes,” Coach Long said.