Nigel Long has helped bring Liberty’s basketball team back on the map. The Hurricanes have reached the District 11 6A finals the past two years and qualified for state tournament during that time and they hope a third time can be the charm for a program that has fell to Parkland in both district title games.

Coming off a 20-8 season last year the Hurricanes return a veteran group, but also lost a star player, as star junior Blake Hargrove transferred to The Hun School in Princeton, NJ.

Liberty is no stranger to losing star players, as Dwayne Chess transferred in 2023 after his sophomore year to a prep school in Rhode Island.

Despite the losses, Liberty is viewed as one of the leagues top teams this season and Long is confident about the group he has.

“Looking forward to seeing how our group grows over the course of the season,” said Long. “We have a nice mixture of juniors and seniors who have a lot of chemistry and experience in playing together.”

That group returning players includes Jake Pukszyn (Junior, Point Guard); Will Palmer (Junior, Wing); Jahsi Cole (Senior, Point Guard); Quin Lucas (Junior, Forward); Jayden Dejesus (Senior, Point Guard); N’Goli Croom (Senior, Forward); Seth Ford (Senior, Forward) and Chase Dusseau (Senior, Guard).

New players in the fold are Jarrell Teague (Junior, Guard), William Cruz (Sophomore, Guard) and Luke Heffernan (Sophomore, Guard).

Long figures to lean on the likes of Pukszyn, Palmer and Lucas this season, as the team aims to win their first title of any kind since 2013.