Burnham leads Liberty into boys State 2B title game

There’s a 1980s sense of nostalgia to this week’s State 2B boys basketball tournament.

Match Burnham and his Liberty Lancers are at the heart of this trip down memory lane.

Burnham scored 29 points, including his team’s final 15, as Liberty advanced to the championship game for the first time since 1986 with a 55-52 win over Brewster in Friday’s second semifinal at the Arena.

Brewster would have also given the tourney a 1980s feel, since the five-time champion Bears haven’t played for the title since 1985.

But the Lancers provide an extra ingredient thanks to Burnham, whose father, Blaze, led St. John-Endicott to State B runner-up finishes in 1987 and ’88. The team that stopped SJE both times was Morton, which now plays as Morton-White Pass and will attempt to defeat Liberty (26-2) in today’s 9 p.m. championship.

Defending champion MWP (27-0) won its 54th consecutive game by holding back hard-charging Northwest Christian 53-48 in the day’s first semifinal. The Timberwolves’ streak ranks No. 5 in state boys history, three behind Reardan of the mid-1960s and NWC of 2007-09.

Match Burnham, who hit 11 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold back the Bears (23-3), said the 1986 Lancers hadn’t been a major topic of conversation at school until this week.

“So it’s nice to know,” said Burnham, who also blocked Brewster’s last-second 3-point attempt. “It’s good to be back. We’re all kind of connected and we all kind of know people who were on the team.”

“One of the kids went and got the old program from ’86 and was pointing out the players who were on the team,” Liberty coach Mike Thacker said. “I think over half the team is still living in Spangle.”

Burnham took over after Brewster tied the game at 38 with 6:37 left. He had two baskets and 11 free throws in the final 5:09, hitting 10 straight until missing the first of two attempts with 3.5 seconds left. He made the second free throw for the game’s final margin and blocked Timbo Taylor’s last-gasp 3-point attempt.

“I was just scared about fouling him,” Burnham said. “I wanted the game to be over with. I just wanted to make a play.”

“We have a few plays for teams that press us to get the ball in his hands,” said Thacker, noting that his 6-foot-8 senior is an 86 percent shooter from the line. “You have to foul him and he’s a dead-eye. … Free throws win games. It’s just as simple as that.”

MWP held a 45-30 lead with 4:03 remaining against the Crusaders (20-8). NWC made a huge rally in the last 1:20, pulling within four points, but the Timberwolves also sealed the victory at the line.

“We just knew that if we played our type of basketball and kept our composure we were going to pull out a win,” said 6-5 senior Zach Walton, who had game highs of 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

NWC, at the 2013 tourney, was the last team to defeat the Timberwolves.

“I did bring that up a little bit,” MWP coach Tony Gillispie said. “Northwest Christian has a great tradition. They’re here all the time.”