Stevenson's Ambrose celebrates win No. 200

For coaches at Stevenson, getting a win over archrival Libertyville is always special.

But for Stevenson boys basketball coach Pat Ambrose, Saturday's 57-50 North Suburban Conference Lake Division victory over Libertyville was even sweeter than usual.

It was the 200th victory of Ambrose's 11-year tenure at the school.

"This just means I've been around for a long time," Ambrose said with a laugh. "No, it means a lot. This is special. It means that I have had great assistant coaches, great kids. And my number one assistant, my wife Traci, has been wonderful. She puts up with me and lets me keep doing this."

Ambrose wasn't sure about what his overall career record is now, but he was able to rattle off the only record that matters to him at the moment. With the victory over Libertyville, Stevenson (12-5 overall) improves to 5-2 in the Lake Division to remain a serious player in the race for the title.

"I'm pretty sure this puts us in a tie (with Zion-Benton) for second place, behind Lake Forest," Ambrose said. "This was a big win for us because nothing comes easy here."

Libertyville wasn't even willing to make an exception for a 200th win.

The Wildcats, who drop to 9-7 overall and 4-3 in the Lake Division, looked dead in the water in the third quarter. They were outscored 20-6 in the period and took a 13-point deficit (41-28) into the fourth quarter.

But just when Win Number 200 seemed to be tucked neatly into Ambrose's back pocket, Libertyville took on the role of party crashers.

The Wildcats reeled off an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter. That got them right back in the game, down just 41-39 with 5:14 remaining.

"We didn't want (Ambrose to have to sweat out his 200th victory), but it turned out that way," said Stevenson senior forward Nate Johnson, who pumped in a game-high 17 points. "It was nerve-wracking because we were up for most of the game.

"But we put our foot down, we stepped up in a hostile environment. This is one of the toughest places to play in the conference."

The Libertyville faithful, many of whom were wearing purple shirts that were sold as a fundraiser by the basketball team for a local girl with cystic fibrosis, had the place rocking during the Wildcats' big fourth-quarter run.

Senior guard John Colao was the one who finally got the deficit down to just two points. He hit a three-pointer that made the crowd roar in delight.

It was one of Colao's four three-pointers in the game.

"It's tough to be down by that much, then clawing our way back in only to lose it (in the end)," said Colao, who tied Ryan Barth for team-high scoring honors with 12 points. The Wildcats also got 11 points from Billy Meyer.

"We got some energy from the fans," Barth continued. "But then we made some mistakes and we paid for it."

Once they got the deficit down to two points, the Wildcats got stuck. They started turning the ball over and missing shots and Stevenson was able to build back its lead without ever having lost it.

By pounding the ball inside to Johnson and Kevin Earl for easy baskets, the Patriots went on a 9-1 run to take a 12-point lead into the final minute.

"It was important for us to slow our game down and get easy baskets and we did a good job of getting it inside," said Earl, who finished with 12 points. "Their crowd had gotten back into the game and they were making their shots and we knew we had to stop that."