Ring Nyeri propels Liberty to 6A boys basketball championship over O'Connor

So much for rebuilding. Not when Peoria Liberty returned the center, the heart, the soul of its basketball team.

Ring Nyeri, the 6-foot-10 senior center who had a whole year wiped out and his career threatened after breaking his leg in the same spot twice, had a third quarter for the ages Saturday, leading the Lions to their first 6A boys state title in a 69-63 victory over Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

As Jackson Hunter whipped the ball high into the air as the final second ticked off, Nyeri raced across the court, jumped into a mob of teammates, found his coach, Mark Wood, and gave him a huge hug.

Nyeri scored 14 of his team's 15 points during a stretch in the third that saw Liberty go from five points down with 7:17 left in the third quarter to six points up with 50 seconds left.

He then went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul.

But no problem.

His teammates picked him up and Liberty, at No. 10, became the lowest seed, at any level, to win a boys basketball state championship since the Arizona Interscholastic Association began a ranking system in 2010-11 to seed teams at state.

"Ring had a look in his eye for the last two weeks, and today, there was an illumination I've not seen, not in my career," Wood said. "I've seen determined players. But he was at a level that wouldn't be denied."

This was the third meeting between the teams coming out of the brutal Desert Valley Region. They split close games during the regular season.

Liberty (19-12) started Saturday's game fast, scoring the first 11 points with Nyeri scoring four of them.

Then, O'Connor (21-10) started getting 6-8 junior Michael Simcoe involved.

Simcoe scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the half, making two 3-pointers, and giving the Eagles their first lead, 31-30, with 23 seconds left in the second quarter on a feed to the basket from Tayvion Wilson.

After Simcoe scored, then Wilson hit a jumper to open the second half for a 35-31 SDO lead, it was time for Nyeri to take over.

He hit a 3. Simcoe countered with his third 3-pointer.

Nyeri then made two free throws, followed in a missed shot, scored on a drive, nailed another 3, and got to the rim for another basket. Suddenly, it was 47-41 Liberty in the lead, and a momentum that never let up the rest of the way.

He had 26 points, 10 rebounds and made only one turnover in the second half after committing four in the first half.

"It was well-deserved for Coach Wood," said Nyeri, who signed in the fall with Division I Kansas City. "He went through 18 years that he never won. This was the year. This was the year nobody thought we were going to win. Now we got it.

"It means a lot for our basketball. We won football, basketball, cheer, (girls) wrestling."

Last year was supposed to the Lions' year in basketball. That team won 22 games, took their first two games of the 32-team Open Division tournament, before losing to powerful Perry in the quarterfinals. That kept them from coming back into the conference tournament. Teams that lose in the first two rounds of the Open are the only ones who get a second chance to salvage their season.

This team started out as the No. 31 seed in the Open, barely getting in after losing their final two regular-season games. Then they lost their third straight, falling to No. 2 Scottsdale Notre Dame 91-75 in the first round.

Hit reset and the Lions posted upsets of No. 7 Chandler Hamilton, No. 2 Laveen Cesar Chavez and No. 6 Phoenix Pinnacle to get to O'Connor. The 79-77 semifinal win at Pinnacle showed how big role players are, such as Stephan Miller, who had a huge game.

Miller was clutch in the fourth quarter Saturday when it was a five-point game with less than four minutes to play.

Miller drove hard to the basket, and got fouled as he scored. He converted the three-point play to increase Liberty's lead to 57-50 with 3:34 to play.

Before that, Simcoe had to leave the game and change out his jersey due to blood on it.

He hit a shot when he came back, but Aiden Dunne countered with a 3 and the Lions had a 62-52 lead.

A turning point in the second half came when Wood moved Mark Duguid, a 6-4 junior, to defend Simcoe. He was able to get a body on him and make it hard for him to get comfortable in the block.

Simcoe had only 10 points in the second half.

"I was just trying to be physical and keep him out of the post," Duguid said. "I trusted my teammates behind me."

Hunter, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, wasn't going to sit out the last minute after crashing hard to the floor on an offensive play with 1:14 to play, his team leading 62-57.

He stayed on the floor for a while, but gradually got back up, limped to the bench. He returned and knocked down Liberty's last two points of the season on free throws with nine seconds to play.

"This is the last time to play with Ring, his senior season, I wanted to be with him at the end," Hunter, a junior, said. "Get past the pain."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ring Nyeri's big 3rd quarter propels Liberty to 6A boys hoops title