Zion-Benton 60, Libertyville 35
All season long, Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil has called Zion-Benton the best boys basketball team in Lake County. Hands down.
"No one even comes close," he often would say.
Yet, he and his players were brimming with optimism as they prepared for Tuesday's IHSA regional semifinal game against the top-seeded Zee-Bees. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that No. 13 Libertyville pushed Zion-Benton to overtime before reluctantly succumbing.
What a distant memory that quickly became.
On Libertyville's home court, the Zee-Bees ran out to a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter and breezed to a 60-35 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd.
That sets the stage for a Libertyville regional championship game on Friday between Zion-Benton (27-3) and the winner of tonight's semifinal (7:30 p.m.) between No. 8 Mundelein and No. 9 Warren.
"They're just tough, they're just really tough," Bogumil said of Zion-Benton as he shook his head. "For them to get beat, they're going to have to have an off night, like maybe they did a little bit against us the last time we played them. They missed their shots and we controlled the tempo.
"That didn't happen this time. They made their shots and we missed ours. They just have too many weapons. Our scouting report on them is always 'Pick your poison.' Which guy are you going to take away? Their five starters are all unique. They've got shooters, slashers and a big guy."
After a slow first quarter in which Libertyville (11-16) spread the floor and held the ball for long stretches, Zion-Benton ramped up its pressure defense to force the issue.
That led to a big second quarter for the Zee-Bees, who took a 13-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Wildcats never got any closer than 12 points thereafter.
"I thought (Libertyville) was going to come out with energy, but they slowed us down," said Zion-Benton guard Rodney Clinkscales. "But that really made us focus so it helped us."
Clinkscales had 15 points for the Zee-Bees, one shy of teammate Lenzelle Smith, who scored a game-high 16 points.
Quintrell Love added 11 points off the bench for Zion-Benton.
"We were definitely worried about this game because Libertyville is a solid team," Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth said. "Fortunately for us, I thought our defense and rebounding in the first half really gave us control of the game. We defended a lot better tonight (than the overtime game with Libertyville)."
Libertyville got 14 points from center Jeremy Letchford and 13 points from guard Joey Aiello, who wrapped up a three-year varsity career.
Until Paul Aynilian hit 3 free throws late in the fourth quarter, Letchford and Aiello were two of only three Libertyville players to score over the course of the entire game.
"We just didn't have a big run against them this time," Aiello said. "Last time, we had a few runs in a row to keep us in the game.
"It just didn't work out for us. We made mistakes and we threw the ball away."