Trees stands tall again

As John Colao's 3-point attempt bounced high off the rim with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Libertyville and Lake Zurich players wrestled for position.

Finally, as if in slow motion, the ball dropped into the trusty hands of the guy who's found himself in this situation before - and delivered before.

As he did at Zion-Benton three weeks ago, and as he did against Lake Zurich on Libertyville's court last season as well, Josh Trees beat the buzzer with a shot to win the basketball game.

His offensive rebound and layup with one second left lifted host Libertyville to a 58-56 win in a North Suburban Lake Division thriller Saturday night.

"This is a place we'd just as soon drive by next year," said Lake Zurich coach John Zarr, whose team lost at Libertyville 52-51 last season on a buzzer-beating jumper by Trees.

Libertyville (7-11, 4-5) took a 56-50 lead on a layup by Jeremy Letchford (14 points, 6 rebounds) with 3:41 left. But 4 free throws by Lake Zurich's Connor Mooney (team-high 15 points, three 3-pointers) and a putback by Marco Grcic evened the score at 56-56 with 1:44 left.

After Lake Zurich (8-11, 2-7) missed a close-in shot in the final half-minute, Letchford secured the rebound and Libertyville played for one shot.

The sharpshooter Colao, who led the Wildcats with 15 points on five 3s, eventually launched from the wing.

No one immediately pounced on the rebound, allowing Trees to hustle in, find the ball and put it through the net.

"I thought there were probably like three fouls on the play both ways," Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil said. "Guys were falling down all over the place and I think a lot of kids were anticipating a foul on both teams. They were yelling for a foul, we were yelling for a foul, and Josh just kind of went and got the ball. It looked like he checked the wind almost."

"I think Letchford really made that play because he was going for it hard," said Trees, who came off the bench because of an achy ankle that's limiting him and finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. "It looked like he almost got fouled, but he cleared out the lane and the ball was just right there."

Danny Coleman added 12 points and 9 rebounds for Lake Zurich, while Brandon Kunz had 8 points and 11 boards. It was the fourth loss in five games for the Bears, who've dropped five games this season by four points or fewer.

"There are a lot of little things in a close ballgame that can make a difference down the stretch," Zarr said. "We're having a problem getting over that hump. It's a multitude of things. We get one thing corrected and then we start bleeding somewhere else."

Julian Hill also played strong off the bench for Libertyville, contributing 9 points and 7 rebounds. He beat the third-quarter buzzer with an offensive-rebound basket to put the Wildcats up 47-45.

The game was played at a fast tempo throughout.

"We usually don't play that way," Bogumil said. "We try to pound it in to our big guys, but I thought (Lake Zurich) forced tempo a lot."

The two teams rematch Tuesday at Lake Zurich. Can Trees pull off more last-second heroics?

"Hopefully," he said, "it's not that close at the end."