Wildcat Hardwood Classic
Libertyville took a good run at ending Loyola's two-year reign as champions of the Wildcat Hardwood Classic boys basketball tournament.
But the Ramblers' run toward an unprecedented third straight crown in the 30-year old tourney continued as they held on for a 56-54 semifinal victory Friday night at Wheeling.
"We've played a lot of tough teams like Mundelein and New Trier," said Libertyville 6-foot-6 junior Jeremy Letchford after scoring a team-high 20 points on 9-for-10 shooting. "We keep hanging with these good teams.
"Once it all starts to click we'll surprise a lot of people, I think."
Matt Sullivan scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter to put Loyola (12-2) in today's 8:45 p.m. title game for the fourth straight year.
The Ramblers will try to tie the tourney record of five titles by St. Viator against North Chicago (10-1), a 55-51 winner over Stevenson.
"It's been a team goal from the beginning of the season," Sullivan said of a Wheeling three-peat as he iced a right ankle he turned in the fourth quarter. "It's definitely a big deal for us."
Avenging an earlier loss to Stevenson in today's 7:15 p.m. third-place game would also be big for the Wildcats (5-6). Their losses are to no slouches and include unbeaten Zion-Benton and Lake Forest.
But they also have no pushovers coming up once January rolls around.
"We talked to the kids about that -- we're three minutes short or six minutes short in a lot of games," said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. "We don't want to be known as only scrappy.
"We're getting there. This was a big goal for us to play in the semis and take a shot and still try to get 3 wins at least."
Sullivan's scorching third quarter put Loyola up 40-26. Libertyville answered with a 13-3 tear to get within 43-39 on a 3-pointer by Joey Aiello (12 points) with 6:19 left.
The Wildcats got within 3 points twice in the final minute but Loyola sparkplug Bobby Huffman, Penn-bound Rob Belcore (10 points, 9 rebounds), Chance Carter and Cynerick Osinaike combined to hit 7-of-8 free throws.
A pair of 3s in the final five seconds by Libertyville set the final score.
"The more we play the more we're going to realize we're a good team," Letchford said. "If we all play together it will all pay off in the end."
N. Chicago 55, Stevenson 51: North Chicago found a way to stop Stevenson's inside game in the second half of their semifinal game in the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic boys basketball tournament.
And the Warhawks' 55-51 victory kept the Patriots from a repeat trip to the championship game.
Instead, they will face North Suburban Conference rival Libertyville in the 7:15 game for third place. North Chicago (10-1) will go up against two-time defending champion Loyola at 8:45 p.m.
"He (Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose) was prepared for everything I was going to do," said North Chicago coach Gerald Coleman, whose team trailed 24-20 at halftime. "We worked hard on our post defense, because we got killed inside by Prospect (Thursday)."
"They know we like to get an inside presence," said Stevenson forward Dylan Richter. "They made it a little tough inside."
"It definitely threw us off," said Kevin Stineman. "In the first half, they let Dylan get the ball and square up. When you take away the inside, it hurts our outside game, too."
North Chicago, which came into the tournament scoring 90 points per game, was held in check by the Patriots' (9-4) defenders, but each time they made a run, it came on the heels of rash of turnovers.
"When we play defense, it sparks our offense," Coleman said.
Ambrose acknowledged North Chicago's inside defense was pivotal, but also said, "a couple loose balls we didn't get and couple of decisions that didn't go our way" were critical down the stretch.
With Richter (14 points) working on the inside and Stineman (game-high 21 points) outside, the Patriots rallied from a 50-45 deficit.
Stineman made 2 free throws and Richter put back his own missed shot to cut the lead to 50-49 with 2:19 left.
DeShawn Chambliss scored inside the two-minute mark to give the War Hawks a 52-49 edge, but Stineman made it a 1-point game with 40.6 seconds left.
Chambliss made 1 free throw with 39.3 seconds left, leaving the Patriots down by 2 with time running out. Following a timeout, Stineman's shot missed the mark, and Keith Ford (18 points) made a layup at the buzzer.
Coleman said his team's victory was the first for a North Suburban Prairie division team over a Lake division team in three years.
-- Larry Weindruch
Wheeling 64, Prospect 59: Chris McClellan didn't want another case of Prospect insomnia.
The Wheeling senior had already been through one nightmare when the visiting Knights rallied to win their Mid-Suburban East meeting by a point at the buzzer in November.
And a month later Friday night, the Knights had cut a 12-point third-quarter deficit to 2 points with 5:28 to play in the 30th annual Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic boys basketball tournament.
But McClellan's 3-pointer started a 9-point run and Prospect never got closer than the final score as Wheeling (6-7) held on for a 64-59 victory.
"That was the most devastating loss," McClellan said of falling 58-57 on Jason Leblebijian's 3. "I couldn't sleep that night.
"This felt really good."
Especially since McClellan scored 14 of his 19 points and was 3-for-3 behind the arc in the second half.
And senior Al Chery celebrated his birthday by scoring 20 points on 9-for-16 shooting before fouling out with 1:04 to play. James Kurtz added 12 points and Mike Barton locked down Prospect (7-7) sharpshooter Jeff Heiden in the fourth quarter.
"At the beginning of the year our chemistry wasn't as good but now it's getting a lot better," McClellan said. "We're getting along a lot better and finding the open man."
Wheeling hopes to keep the momentum going when it plays for fifth place at 3:45 p.m. today against Naperville Central, which beat Notre Dame 58-56 on a floor-length drive and short baseline jumper at the buzzer by Drew Crawford (32 points).
"We've got to continue to play together," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool. "This summer we saw a lot of guys arguing and not playing well together.
"It's starting to get through to them they've got to play well as a team."
Which the Wildcats did as they opened the second half by hitting 8 of 10 shots in an 18-4 tear to take a 43-31 lead.
"Coach gave us the firepower at halftime," McClellan said.
"He said to come out with intensity at halftime," Chery said. "We really gelled."
Heiden (19 points) hit 3 of his four 3s in the final 1:43 of the third and Prospect, which plays Notre Dame for seventh at 12:15 p.m., got within 47-45 on a Kevin Reed 18-footer.
But it was a familiar pattern for the Knights as Alex Toth had 13 points and 8 rebounds before fouling out but Reed was held to 6 points.
"Everyone keeps saying this team never quits and that's very true," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "But we put ourselves in a position where we have to constantly fight back.
"It would be great to be in a position to not have to fight back."
-- Marty Maciaszek
Naperville C. 58, ND 56: Naperville Central junior Drew Crawford was determined not to let Friday night's game at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic go to overtime.
The Redhawks had played into two extra sessions just two nights ago in a disappointing loss to Libertyville.
And there they were Friday, tied 56-56 against Notre Dame with 5.4 seconds remaining, taking the ball out of bounds under their own basket.
"I knew I had to get the ball down the court as fast as possible," Crawford said. "I wanted to get close to the basket and not settle for just a jump shot."
The junior did just that, driving coast to coast and hitting a baseline floater as time expired to give Naperville Central a dramatic 58-56 win.
Crawford finished with a game-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds and recorded 3 blocked shots.
"Drew's our man," said Central junior guard Danny Ondik. "He always comes up with the clutch shot."
"Drew has to score for us to win," added Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer. "He's capable of taking the team and putting it on his shoulders, and he played a nice floor game tonight."
The Redhawks were determined to shake off the effects of Thursday's bitter defeat, running out to a 30-15 halftime lead over the Dons.
But at the break Kramer warned his team not to get complacent.
"Just knowing the way basketball is," Kramer said, "I knew they would make a run."
"We got a little lazy at halftime," Ondik added.
Notre Dame exploded in the second half behind four 3s from Zach Abraham and steady play by Billy Hughes to take a late lead.
The Dons had a chance for the win but a runner misfired and Naperville Central grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 5.4 remaining, setting the stage for Crawford's heroics.
The Redhawks inbounded to Crawford, who raced downcourt and fired up the game-winner as time expired.
Harrison Daniels added 10 points for Naperville Central, while Mike Schmitz pitched in with 6.
"I told our team that yesterday's game was like a regional game," Kramer said, "high pressure, with a lot of runs.
"I thought we showed a lot of character tonight, coming back from a tough loss."
-- Bill Esbrook
Maine W. 57, Lake Park 55: Lake Park and Maine West did more than square off in a consolation semifinal Friday afternoon at Wheeling: they tried to prove they're both better than their respective records would indicate.
They certainly convinced each other.
Each team hit huge shots, especially from the perimeter. Each team played in-your-face defense that defined their performances. And each team, at crunch time, looked to its clutch players, and they delivered.
Maine West's just delivered a little more in a 57-55 win in which the Warriors (4-10) let an 11-point lead get away and then got super-clutch conventional 3-point plays from its noted 3-point bomber, Jimmy Orlowski.
After Lake Park's Mike Pavone (17 points off the bench) tied the game with a 3-pointer, offsetting clutch free throws by Stewart Turner-Jackson and Nate Anderson, Orlowski scored his second consecutive 3-point play on a fastbreak, timing his layin to draw the foul each time and swishing the free throw on each after the team struggled at the line for three quarters.
He finished with 20, as did ever-hustling 3-point bombing partner Adis Kadiric.
"We were not going to let this happen again," Orlowski asserted, recalling a season already full of tough-luck losses.
Now, with a chance to win the consolation title tomorrow and a third straight game at 5:30 p.m. today against St. Viator, "We have confidence going into tomorrow.
"It's a great feeling," said Orlowski after the Warriors surpassed their win total of last season.
-- Howard Schlossberg
St. Viator 59, Deerfield 48: St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski has a simple motto for his team at this point in the season: improve with every game that his team plays.
After dropping a first-round game, Majkowski saw his Lions respond with a win against Niles North and an even more impressive 59-48 victory Friday over Deerfield.
"Mentally (these 2 wins) are huge," Majkowski said. "We felt we played better yesterday against Niles North than we did the day before, and we played even better today than we did both of those days. We're just trying to get our confidence back."
St. Viator junior guard Bryce Hensley, who was lights out from 3-point range Friday, contributed to the increasing confidence as he scored 10 of his game-leading 20 points in the first quarter.
Hensley recently transitioned from a bench player to the starting lineup and attributes his success to his teammates court awareness.
"I ran the floor and my teammates did a good job of finding me open," Hensley said. "I felt good out there. My shot was on and I was in rhythm."
St. Viator also got solid efforts off the bench from senior Jim Platania(10 points, 4 rebounds) and sophomore Rich McLoughlin(6 points).
"Platania just got back," Majkowski said of the senior guard. "He's been hurt the whole season until our last regular-season game. He was a starter a lot last year so it's nice to have him back."
Viator (5-6) will play for its second straight consolation title.
"We wanted to get back to the consolation championship and that was our goal after our first loss," Hensley said. "We're getting back toward .500 going into conference play and (these wins) really help build up our confidence."
-- Dan Hyman