Practice makes perfect for Libertyville

Before Libertyville could beat Mundelein at the Class 4A Deerfield regional Wednesday night, the Wildcats had to get things right in practice.

"Three perfect possessions in a row," Libertyville senior John Colao said. "If we didn't get three in a row, we had to stay until we did."

And stay the Wildcats did. A normal practice for the Cats lasts just 90 minutes. But some two and a half hours later, Libertyville got it right, and much to the disdain of the No. 7 seed Mundelein, the 10th-seeded Wildcats continued to get it right Wednesday night.

Libertyville was quicker to the ball and quicker to the basket, and it translated into a 69-55 win over the Mustangs. Libertyville (14-13) will face No. 2 seed Deerfield for the regional championship Friday night. Mundelein ends its season 19-13.

"I think by the time it came to play this game the kids were sick of practicing against Mundelein stuff," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "I think it really made us focus on what we needed to do tonight to win this game and keep our season going."

The Wildcats kept their offense going a number of different ways, thanks in large part to the play of senior Hobie Herberger and junior Ryan Barth.

Herberger led Libertyville in scoring with 18 points while Barth was scrappy all night, contributing 15 points and 4 assists. Sophomore Luke Mathewson owned the glass for Libertyville with 10 boards to go with his 10 points.

"We just knew we had to come out and put everything we had out there tonight," Barth said. "I mean, we don't have a choice. If we don't play that way our season could be over and no one wants that yet."

While Barth and Herberger played key roles all night long for the Wildcats, Colao proved to be a difference-maker off the bench for Libertyville.

Colao first struck right as the buzzer sounded to end the third period with a long 3-pointer. Then his second long ball of the night with 3:38 left came as part of an 8-1 spurt that sealed a hard-fought win for the Wildcats.

"I haven't played well this year and for me to come in and hit that shot, I think you could see all my teammates spirits just get lifted up when we needed it," said Colao, who finished with 8 points.

Mundelein closed to within 59-53 on three Ben Brust free throws with 2:28 to go, but the Mustangs could never seem to put together consistent possessions all night.

"(Libertyville) always seemed to come up with the big basket - the big next play," said the Iowa-bound Brust, who finished his Mundelein career with a 13-point night. "Even though it was close there at the end, we felt like we were in a much worse position."

Mundelein junior Ryan Sawvell led all scorers with 19 points and teammate Robert Knar had 13 points.