Libertyville finds a way to beat Lake Park

Not too often does a bus driver get credit for a victory.

Libertyville boys basketball team took the long way to Bensenville on Monday night. By the time the team reached its destination, the game was pushed back 10 minutes from its start time.

After the Wildcats pulled out 55-38 victory over Lake Park in the opening game of the Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament at Fenton High School, that seemed fine with Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil.

"Maybe the bus driver gets the game ball," he said. "It was a little rough start getting here.

"We came in and I joked in the locker room, 'We played well all summer,' and I told the boys, 'Think of it like a summer league game.' In those games you show up five minutes before you play."

Libertyville hit the court ready from the 2-hour bus ride and scored 22 points in the opening quarter. The Wildcats hit 9 of 15 shots in the period and led 22-4.

"We came out and shot the ball real well," Bogumil said. "We just played well in offensive spurts, and our defense was consistent for the most part. Our rebounding was pretty good too."

Hobie Herberger scored 5 of his team-high 11 points in the opening eight minutes.

"Everything seemed to be going in for us," Herberger said. "We got everything to open up and got easy shots."

The Wildcats' Ryan Barth added 9 points, and John Colao and Billy Meyer (12 rebounds) each had 8 points. Luke Mathewson scored 7 points and had 10 rebounds.

Lake Park recovered late in the second quarter. Trailing 28-8, Matt Drufke scored 7 of his 13 points during a 9-0 run and brought the Lancers back to 28-17 at the break.

"Give Libertyville credit, they made a run on us," Lake Park coach Josh Virostko said. "After that, we got on them and got intense defensively. I thought we played harder after the first quarter.

"We had chances to cut it down to 8 or 10. We didn't hit free throws, or we made turnovers. When you dig yourself a hole, it's hard to get out of it. When things went bad, we went into a hole and Libertyville took advantage of it."

The Lancers' Dominique Spencer scored 9 of his game-high 17 points in the third quarter to keep Lake Park within 14 points as the period winded down. Then Libertyville's Griffin Pils scored his first career points by nailing a 65-foot jumper at the buzzer for a 47-30 Libertyville lead heading into the final qaurter.

"There was no one in front of me - took a dribble and shot it," said Pils, a sophomore. "It looked like it was going in and it was on-line."