Motzel, Carmel put the clamps on Libertyville

Before the opening tipoff Saturday night, a visiting Libertyville boys basketball fan yelled at his team, "In order to win, it starts with defense!"

One team listened.

Carmel Catholic.

The Corsairs defeated the Wildcats 56-46 in a nonconference game.

Carmel's Brandon Motzel, coming off a 30-point effort against Notre Dame, led all scorers with 19 points.

"It feels awesome," said Motzel, who also grabbed 9 rebounds. "It's been a while since we beat them, so it's nice."

After upsetting Notre Dame 63-57 Friday night, Carmel (8-14) has its first two-game winning streak since starting the season 2-0.

"Our kids have done a nice job and have come along way," Carmel coach Tim Bowen said. "That's two wins in a row against two very good basketball teams and we're very happy with that.

"If we can prevent the other team's offense from getting good looks and being in the right spots, then we have a chance to win," Bowen added. "That's what we did the past two nights."

Doug Meyer added 10 points for the Corsairs.

After losing a heartbreaker to Warren 55-54 on Friday night, Libertyville (9-12) suffered its second loss in a row and its eighth in 10 games.

"We came out flat," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said.

"Carmel was riding high from last night's game. They executed down the stretch and we were turning the ball over to them."

After the two teams were tied 26-26 at halftime, Libertyville held Carmel to only 6 shots and 4 points to take a 32-30 lead by the end of the third quarter.

Early in the fourth, the two teams were tied 34-34. Carmel's Michael Fitzgibbons (6 points) drove the lane untouched for a layup to start an 11-0 rally to put the Corsairs up 45-34.

Ellis Matthews led the Wildcats with 18 points and Ryan Barth converted 8 of 13 from the free throw line to finish with 12 points.

"We got a little too content after (Friday's) game and everything that was going on," Matthews said. "Tonight, we just didn't play as well as we should have at all."