Herberger, Libertyville get started with win at Lake Zurich

Hobie Herberger had been coming off the bench for Libertyville's boys basketball team and providing offense all season.

So when Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil told the senior he was going to start for the first time, he was more than ready.

Herberger helped lead Libertyville past host Lake Zurich 62-40 in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division game Friday night, helping the Wildcats recover from a pair of losses last weekend.

"I was just trying to help our team come out strong so that we would not be down the first quarter," Herberger said. "I was told on Tuesday that I was going to start for the first time this season and I was anxious all week."

The 6-foot-3 senior forward tied Lake Zurich's Aaron Lewandowski for game-high scoring honors, as he netted 13 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

"We had been starting slow, so I decided to make a change and start Hobie tonight," Bogumil said. "He came out and scored some points and also played some good defense for us tonight so it turned out to be a good move."

Tyler Schweigert scored 8 points for Libertyville (10-7, 5-3). John Colao, Ellis Mathews and Luke Mathewson added 7 points each for the Wildcats.

Libertyville dominated the free-throw line by converting 17 of 20 for the night, while Lake Zurich (1-18, 0-8) converted only 6 of 16.

Lake Zurich was able to score from long distance with six 3-pointers, including a pair by Colin Rathe.

Libertyville held Lake Zurich to only 4 points in the first quarter and led 30-10 at halftime.

Lake Zurich had some good news, as J.J. Raffelson played his first game of the season. The 6-3 junior had suffered a dislocated elbow during the football season.

Raffelson scored 4 points and was relieved to finally get on the court.

"It was really rough on me," Raffelson said. "It was disappointing to me that I couldn't help the team, knowing that I could have helped make a little difference here and there. I'm back now so I'm hoping I can do the right things to help get us back on track and start winning."

Mike Boyd and Chris Baumann scored 6 points each for the Bears.

"We missed our shots and we broke down defensively in the beginning of the game," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "We gave them too many high-percentage shots and we didn't get help from our weak side, and we got beat off the dribble. Basically, everything that had been breaking down all season came to a head and we broke down in all aspects of the game tonight."