A night without its coach, and its top scorer undergoing an off night, Leo Gayman put Park Hill on its back, and carried the Trojans into the district semifinals.

The Trojans fought back at home against Liberty for a 60-50 win in the first round of Missouri Class 6, District 8. Forward Leo Gayman racked up 19 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter, as Park Hill didn’t take a lead until 49-48 with 4:35 left in the game.

The game’s first and only lead change came on Gayman’s final three-pointer from the top of the key, and Park Hill didn’t look back thereafter. The 6-foot-5 senior scored 13 points in the final 4:35, and 19 of Park Hill’s 23 points in the final quarter.

“I was just letting it fly. My teammates kept giving me open looks and they (Liberty) kept leaving me open,” stated Gayman, who drained seven three’s in the contest.

Liberty opened the fourth quarter on a Kale Mortimer floater in the lane for a 45-37 lead with 7:40 left, and seemingly staving off a few Park Hill comeback attempts in the game. But then two Gayman trifectas and a three from fellow senior Kayden Boersma in the right corner with 6:25 left shaved the deficit to 47-46.

“We came into the huddle at the end of the third down by six, and I told everyone that ‘We don’t want to go out like this’ and the guys responded,” Gayman recalled. “We’ve got good leaders on our team and when they step up, the younger guys did too and brought energy.”

After Gayman’s go-ahead three, both teams exchanged possessions of turnovers and missed shots, before Gayman attempted a three at the top of the key, but was fouled. Gayman hit two of three from the line for a 51-48 lead with 2:43 left.

Mortimer, Liberty’s senior point guard, got Liberty back on the board hitting a free throw with 1:51 left, but Gayman countered with an up-and-under in the lane for a 53-49 lead with 1:28 left. From there, Liberty misfires and Park Hill rebounds results in more trips to the charity stripe, where Gayman canned six straight free throws down the stretch to seal the game. Gayman also snared a game-high 12 rebounds.

“We did a great job of stopping Mortimer and making the rest of the team beating us,” Gayman said. “We got tougher on the boards and kept them off the offensive glass down the stretch.”

Fellow senior Cam Jones (19.1 ppg) fought through a tough night and scored 11, but just two after intermission. His dad, head coach Chad Jones, was absent from the sideline for undisclosed reasons with assistant Chad Wright filling in.

Liberty jumped out to an early 11-0 lead before Park Hill rallied for an 11-11 tie in the final minute of the first quarter. The Blue Jays again opened up a 24-11 lead midway through the second period behind Jax Froelich inside buckets and two Cooper Stirtz threes. But Park Hill fought back on two Gayman threes, a Jones running scoop through the lane, two Don Fonville free throws and a Jones dunk for a 27-27 tie right before halftime.

Mortimer finished with 11 points, and eclipsed the career 1,000-point mark finishing with 1,004 career points. Howie Chase scored 12 to lead Liberty, which finished the season at 13-14.

Park Hill (19-8) now faces the No. 1 team in Class 6, taking on Oak Park on Friday at 5:30 pm. The Northmen won previous matchups, 67-54 and 70-59.

Other Class 6, District 8 results

No. 1 Oak Park 96, No. 8 St. Joe Central 53

No. 2 North Kansas City 59, No. 7 Park Hill 45

No. 3 Staley 76, No. 6 Liberty North 44