Patriots win a weird one
The final seconds of Tuesday's hard-fought boys basketball game between Libertyville and Stevenson turned into minutes.
"It was a crazy finish," said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose, after his team survived 51-50. "I've never seen anything like it."
The drama began in earnest when Libertyville's Jeremy Letchford made a pair of free throws to cut his team's deficit to 49-48 with 5.3 seconds left. On the inbounds pass, the Wildcats immediately fouled Stevenson's Nate Johnson.
Johnson, whose team was in the double bonus, missed both free throws. Stevenson's Jeff Arenson won the fight for the rebound and was fouled hard by Letchford. The whistle sounded just before the buzzer with the two players tangled up near the stands.
After conferencing for a couple of minutes, the referees called a technical foul on Arenson. After Arenson shot his 2 free throws for being fouled and Libertyville shot its technical free throws, the Wildcats got the ball at halfcourt with 0.5 seconds left.
Arenson, one of the area's best clutch free throws shooters, proceeded to make both for a 51-48 advantage.
"Those were the hardest free throws of my life," Arenson said.
Libertyville junior Josh Colao proceeded to calmly made both technical free throws. From halfcourt, the Wildcats lobbed an inbounds pass inside to Myles Burton. Johnson was able to get a hand on the pass, preventing Burton from corralling it. There was contact but the officials did not make a call either way.
"We tried to get it to the rim but we couldn't get a clean catch," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said.
After a scoreless first quarter, Stevenson's Henry Wood finished with a game-high 17 points.
"I got the same quality shots (early), but I had the yips," he said. "I was able to settle down and start using the backboard more."
Wood, a 6-foot-6 senior center, seemed to come through with a basket whenever Stevenson needed one.
"He made some big shots for us," Ambrose said.
Arenson hit 7 of 8 free throws and finished with 11 points. Sophomore Ryan Chapman had 9 points and 6 assists.
For Libertyville (5-11, 1-5 NSC Lake), Colao buried 4 3-pointers and had a team-high 14 points. Letchford added 10 points and 7 rebounds. Senior Paul Aynilian's 9 points included a coast-to-coast drive and runner just before the third quarter buzzer.
When the two teams played Dec. 13, Libertyville rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit. This time, the Wildcats trailed 29-16 after Stevenson outscored (10-6, 3-3) them 18-3 in the second quarter.
Libertyville dominated the third quarter, scoring the first 9 points of the half. By the time the quarter ended, the Wildcats were up 36-35.
What was Wood thinking at the time?
"Weren't we just up by 13 points," he said. "(Fortunately), we were able to get it together and that speaks to our resilience."