Pils fills the void as Libertyville rolls

When Libertyville senior guard Ryan Barth went out with an injury, the Wildcats lost one of their best scorers and best floor leaders. It also provided fellow junior Griffin Pils with a chance to lead in Barth's absence.

In the Wildcats' first-round game of the 33rd annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic, Pils took full advantage of the opportunity afford to him by Barth's injury.

Pils scored 10 points, but also contributed 5 rebounds and 3 assists in helping lead the Wildcats to an impressive 60-29 win over Deerfield on Monday.

Libertyville moves on to the winners' bracket and will face Loyola, a 37-36 winner over Stevenson, at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. Deerfield will face Stevenson in the consolation bracket at 10:30.

"I thought (Griffin) did a great job running the point for us," said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. "It's a nice luxury like that where we have a number of guys that can run our offense and handle the ball."

The Libertyville offense was at its very best to start the third quarter. The Wildcats outscored Deerfield 21-4 in the period to take a relatively comfortable halftime margin and turn it in to a very comfortable one.

"Coach told us at halftime to pick up the tempo and run in the third quarter," Pils said. "We felt like we were faster and more athletic than this team so we wanted to push the pace and get after it."

The 21-4 spurt in the third quarter gave Libertyville (6-4) a 48-22 lead after three quarters.

"I think we let the negative energy of our offense effect our defense," Deerfield coach Bret Just said.

"We did get some fairly good looks at the bucket but we just couldn't get it to fall."

Junior Elis Matthews also stepped up big for the Wildcats on offense. His 15 points led all scorers with 8 coming after halftime.

Libertyville started the game in very similar fashion to the way the Cats started the third quarter. Right from the opening tip the Wildcats outscored Deerfield 8-2 to take an early cushion. A 9-1 run midway through the second quarter moved the lead to near double figures as the Wildcats took a 27-16 advantage into the locker room at half.

Senior John Carney was the only Deerfield player in double figures with 12 points.