The only blemish on Lee’s Summit West’s 66-50 Class 5 quarterfinal victory over Liberty on Saturday came early in the third quarter, when junior forward Christian Bishop cut his head making a defensive play.

It didn’t stop Bishop from returning to the game to score a team-high 19 points. But it was bad enough that Bishop departed after the game to get the cut stitched up.

“Any time you get a teammate who gets injured… it shakes you up a little bit. There was a lot of blood down there,” said Titans coach Michael Schieber, his right sleeve still stained by Bishop’s blood. “I thought the kids did a really good job. It obviously picked us up when he came back out too.

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Lee’s Summit West (25-2) overpowered Liberty with the frontcourt combination of Bishop and senior Elijah Childs (18 points).

“We knew we had an advantage in the post, so we tried to get there as much as possible and work inside-out,” Childs said. “Everything was clicking tonight.”

Childs and the rest of the Titans were relieved when Bishop returned.

“I was happy,” Childs said with a smile. “I had extra help now.”

It was the primary reason why the Titans enjoyed a 33-6 free-throw advantage, and why Liberty (20-9) couldn’t get within nine points in the second half, despite 23 points from Jalen Lewis.

“We were able to build a lead through our post presence, and then our guards hit shots to keep them honest, and getting to the foul line and converting… just so many things we did well tonight,” Schieber said.

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