Libertyville stuns Z-B on Trees' shot

The clock struck nine Friday night and, sure enough, it was party time.

And boy, was Libertyville ever in the mood to party.

"Before every game, I always tell the guys that we want to be having a good time come 9 o'clock," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "And we actually are tonight."

Yep, an upset victory over a Zion-Benton team that boasts a Division I recruit and again ranks as one of the best teams in the state certainly qualifies as a good time.

The Wildcats escaped a nip-and-tuck affair in Zion with a 51-50 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory that was sealed when Josh Trees hit a little runner down the lane with 1.3 seconds left. His shot, which rattled around the rim first before dropping in, set off quite a celebration on the court and in the Libertyville section of the gym, which was packed with fans.

The winning play came off of an inbounds play under the Libertyville basket.

The previous play under the basket resulted in the ball being kicked out of bounds by Zion-Benton. The clock had ticked down to three-tenths of a second left but the officials agreed that 1.3 seconds needed to go back on the clock.

It was all the time the Wildcats needed.

"(Kevin) Johns made a great pass fake (in Jeremy Letchford's direction) and my guy went for it and I was just wide open (down the lane)," said Trees, who hit a similar game-winner last year against Lake Forest. "This feels great, especially because we haven't really been winning lately.

"Our last game at Wheeling (over the holidays), we beat Prospect and that gave us some of confidence. This will give us even more confidence. This could definitely turn our season around right here."

Libertyville, which avenges its overtime loss at Zion-Benton last season, moves to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in the Lake Division. Zion-Benton, which was playing without star center Markus Yarbrough, drops to 10-5 overall and has lost its last two games.

The 6-foot-8 Yarbrough hurt an already dinged up ankle in practice on Thursday and could be out for quite some time. According to team officials, the chronic injury is more serious than ever.

"We were missing a key guy," said Zion-Benton guard Ronald Steward, who was the only Zee-Bee in double figures. He scored 14 points, including a three-pointer that gave his team a one-point lead with 50 seconds left. "But Libertyville came out and played hard. Everyone brings their A-game against us. We needed to do the same."

The Wildcats made it difficult for Zion-Benton to do much of anything with a tough defense that gave up only 15 first-half points. Libertyville also held Ohio State-bound guard Lenzelle Smith to a total of just 9 points on the night.

"That was a really hard-fought basketball game," Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth said. "Libertyville did a great job against us."

The Wildcats were led in scoring by senior center Jeremy Letchford, who muscled his way inside for a game-high 16 points. They also got 14 points from reserve John Colao, who heated up from beyond the arc in the second half. He had four 3-pointers on the game, three of which came in the second half.

"I'm just real proud," Bogumil said. "That's a great win for our program, our kids, our school. I just hope we can build on it."