Libertyville edges South Elgin for third at Fenton
Blame it on Thursday's gastronomic overindulgence.
That was the explanation Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil offered for the sluggish play by both his team and South Elgin in the third-place game of the 25th Annual Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Boys Basketball Tournament at Fenton Friday.
The Wildcats prevailed, 44-40, despite turning the ball over 24 times and shooting 16 of 43 from the field (37 percent).
"I think everyone was still running off the stuffing and the sweet potatoes," said Bogumil, whose team finished the tournament 2-2. "It was really ugly. Every year I've coached it's the same thing in the Friday game (after Thanksgiving). You hardly see anyone come out on fire. But we'll take it."
South Elgin wasn't any sharper. The Storm (2-2) turned the ball over 22 times, including 2 critical turnovers in the final 2:35, and shot 1 of 17 from 3-point range.
"The things that killed us from Day 1 in this tournament were shot selection and turnovers," South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. "Our shot selection led to better shots for them on the other end. We took bad shots down the stretch and we just turned the ball over."
Neither team led by more than 3 points until the end of the third quarter, when 6-foot-5 Libertyville senior Jeremy Birck stole a South Elgin outlet pass and fired an off-balance 3-pointer that banked home at the buzzer. The answered prayer put the Wildcats ahead 36-30.
South Elgin responded at the start of the fourth quarter with its best surge of the game, a 10-2 run to take the lead. Dillon Gardner scored on the fast break, Martin Duarte scored off a Gardner steal and Gardner tied the game at 36-36 on a fast-break bucket, a play initiated by Brandon Carson's blocked shot.
Gardner (10 points) scored in the post to put South Elgin ahead 40-38 with 3:25 to play, but the Storm didn't take care of the ball down the stretch. Trying to add to their 2-point lead, they instead turned the ball over against Libertyville's half-court trap. Birck passed the ball ahead to senior Ryan Barth, whose layup tied the game at 40 with 2:30 left.
The Storm missed a 3-point shot on their next possession and Libertyville snared the rebound. Junior Luke Mathewson (6-5) then took a feed from Birck in the lane, drew the foul and sank 2 free throws to give the Wildcats a 42-40 lead with 1:29 remaining. Mathewson finished with 12 points.
"We have the players and the depth to come back," Mathewson said. "We just had to play as a team and we did. Everyone came through and did their part and we came back to win that game, so it was pretty big."
South Elgin's ensuing possession ended in yet another turnover before the Storm could attempt the tying basket.
"A lot of us were trying to do too much," South Elgin senior Martin Duarte said. "We just needed to calm down, run through our sets and just go through our plays. We were just trying to do too much because we wanted to win so bad. We were a little antsy." Libertyville then spread the floor and put the game away when senior Landon Eyre scored with 35 seconds left. A cutting Eyre took a backdoor feed from Birck and waited patiently as three South Elgin defenders sailed past him after a pump fake.
"It kind of freaked me out," Eyre said of the oncoming trio of defenders. "I saw them block a few shots earlier and I saw them all coming for me. I just pump faked and I watched them all fly by me."