Jacobs completes 2-0 weekend with win at Libertyville
If the high fives for the first 500 wins of his coaching career were this emphatic, the finishes this fabulous, Jim Hinkle "wouldn't have made it, he said with one of his infectious laughs.
A rough season smoothed out a little this weekend for Jacobs' boys basketball team, as the Golden Eagles rallied from an 8-point deficit with less than two minutes left to force overtime and eventually defeat nonconference-host Libertyville 72-66 on Saturday for its second win in less than 24 hours.
Jacobs improved to 5-18, while Libertyville fell to 11-12 with its third straight loss.
"It feels amazing to see that we're actually playing at the level that we were during the Christmas tournament," said Jacobs senior Matt Schmidt, who sank 6 of 8 free throws in OT and led all scorers with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. "I'm glad we're back."
Hinkle had recorded his 500th victory Friday night, as Jacobs topped Crystal Lake South to snap a 10-game losing streak.
"(No.) 501 was even better," said Hinkle, who's coached for 35 years, including six at Elgin Community College.
When Libertyville's Tyler Schweigert rebounded his own blocked shot and scored with 1:54 left to extend the Wildcats' lead to 59-51, it looked like Hinkle would be stuck on 500 wins (417 at the high school level).
"The ref was standing right next to me (during a stoppage in play) and Mike (Peterson), our point guard, says, 'Do you want us to foul now?' " Hinkle said. "Fortunately, I wasn't in that mode. I said, 'No. We're still just going for steals right now.' "
Jacobs got steals from Schmidt, Matt Ehrhardt and Jon Kowalski in the final minute and finished regulation with a 8-0 run. Peterson's drive and bucket with 46 seconds left pulled the Golden Eagles even.
Kowalski's steal gave Jacobs a chance to win and avoid overtime, but Schmidt's left-wing 3 was just off-target.
Libertyville, which scored the first 7 points of the fourth quarter to snap a 45-45 tie, turned the ball over seven times in the final eight minutes.
"We just fell apart," said Libertyville's Billy Meyer, who scored 7 points, including a two-handed dunk and 3-pointer, and grabbed 6 rebounds. "We just weren't playing like we usually play."
What made the win especially sweet for the Golden Eagles was that they pulled it out despite losing Sean Meyer with 3:48 left in the third quarter. Meyer was whistled for a foul and then immediately drew a technical (his fifth personal foul). He had 10 points and 5 rebounds at the time of his ejection, and Jacobs was leading 40-36.
"He's just our leading scorer and leading rebounder, and leader in steals," Hinkle said facetiously. "But nobody hung their head after it happened."
Kowalski helped compensate for Meyer's absence by coming off the bench to score 6 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Fellow reserve Ehrhardt helped picked up the slack on the defensive end.
"Nobody wanted to give up this game," Schmidt said. "This is a good team, and we all wanted to win. Everyone was stepping up big with Sean on the bench."
Peterson (15 points) sank a turnaround shot in the lane to open overtime, and Jacobs had the lead for good.
Schweigert led Libertyville with 12 points, hitting two 3s in the final 30 seconds. Ryan Barth added 11, while Hobie Herberger and Luke Mathewson each had nine.
"We looked at Jacobs and saw their record, and we were like, 'This should be an easy game,' " Billy Meyer said. "But a lot of us also said, 'We can't think like that. It has to be just like another game.'"
It was Jacobs' first win in three OT games this season.
"It'd take me a week to go through all the things we've had to go through this year," Hinkle said. "But for seven days now, we've had all the players. No injuries. No one suspended. Nothing. They've really come together and they're playing very good basketball."