Yarbrough, Zion-Benton tip Libertyville in OT
Zion-Benton's Malik Yarbrough knew he had to step up if he wanted his team to win on Saturday night.
Yarbrough scored 6 points in overtime to help the visiting Zee-Bees defeat Libertyville 64-62 in a North Suburban Lake Division boys basketball game.
The teams were tied 55-55 at the end of the fourth quarter and exchanged foul shots to stay tied at 57-57 with three minutes left in overtime.
Yarbrough, who led Zion-Benton with 16 points, sank a layup and then followed with a turnaround jump shot with what proved to be the winning shot.
"It wasn't that hard for us to get back into it," said Yarbrough, who scored 10 points in the second half after teammate Owen Worthington fouled out early in the fourth quarter. "We need to work on our free throws this week. We just didn't do a good job on them tonight."
The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way as Zion-Benton held on to a 2-point lead.
Libertyville had a chance to tie the score, but Wildcats junior Ellis Matthews just missed on a 10-foot jump shot at the final buzzer.
"First of all, Libertyville played a solid first half," said Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth, whose Zee-Bees improved to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the NSC Lake. "They came out and played well and (Libertyville) penetrated to the basket very well in the first half.
"I wasn't really pleased with our defense," Kloth said. "You just have to give Libertyville tremendous credit on how they rebounded tonight. I thought we had a nice third quarter, and toward the end of the game we struggled with our free throws."
Libertyville (4-3, 2-1) was without the services of its starting guard and leading scorer Ryan Barth, who missed his first game with a lower body injury.
"This was a heartbreaker," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "We kept fighting back. We were down by 7 points. We pushed it to overtime and we had a chance to win it. We picked it up on defense, we missed some free throws and (Zion-Benton converted some) and we had a chance to tie it."
Javairius Amos-Mays scored 12 points, Carlyss Jackson chipped in with 11 points and Worthington finished with 9 points for Zion-Benton.
Matthews led all scorers with a season-high 28 points, including 8 of 9 foul shots as well as 9 rebounds.
"We were really tired and we just couldn't get a bucket," said Matthews, who wears orange sneakers to match his school colors. "It was a disappointing loss, but we just have to work a little harder."
Matthews' teammate Griffin Pils (17 points) also had a good game, but was disappointed with the outcome.
"We didn't control the game the way we were supposed to at the end, and we missed some foul shots," Pils said. "We work on our defense every day."