Head, Mundelein stop Libertyville

Look for the red headband to stick — around Leavon Head’s head.

The Mundelein senior guard, sporting the headwear in a game for the first time this year, scored 20 points — 11 in the first quarter — in the Mustangs’ 92-62 rout of host Libertyville Friday night.

“It’s got to be headband, oh yeah,” said smiling teammate Ryan Sawvell.

“The headband,” he added. “It was the headband.”

Head would not have even worn it, had it not been for a noggin collision with a Stevenson Patriot in a Mundelein win last weekend. It took 6 stitches to close the gash, a tad above Head’s right eye. He then had to sit out a couple of practices.

“I put it on (for protection) the day I returned to practice,” Head said. “I had a pretty good week of practice.”

He had a better game Friday night. Head nailed a game-high three treys, including a pair in the first frame.

His final triple, a few seconds after a Sawvell dunk, put Mundelein (23-4, 8-3) up 77-54 at 4:40 of the fourth quarter.

“Leavon was aggressive, offensively and defensively, and he stayed aggressive,” Mustangs coach Richard Knar said. “He had a great start, and I was happy with his shots – they were easy, under control.”

Containing Sawvell, meanwhile, was not an easy proposition for Libertyville’s Wildcats (9-13, 3-8). The potent 6-foot-8 post player poured in a game-best 22 points to go with 11 rebounds. He also had a productive first quarter (10 points) on Libertyville’s Senior Night, before dropping 10 more on the hosts after the break.

“We battled hard in the first half and for most of third quarter,” said Wildcats senior guard Ryan Barth (team-high 16 points, 5 boards). “But we stopped executing. Mundelein likes to play up and down, fast, and so do we. But we played their game too much, especially in the second half.”

Mundelein sophomore forward Sean O’Brien (13 points) came up big, in transition, in the third quarter. Libertyville cut Mundelein’s lead to 54-43, on a Jeremy Birck bucket.

A flurry ensued. Consecutive field goals by O’Brien, the first on fast-break dish from Sawvell, and a Head basket — in a head-spinning 45-second span — made it a 60-43 game and forced Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil to call a timeout.

Knar’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer put the visitors ahead 66-47.

But the story Friday night was Head, who praised his teammates after sharing his headband thoughts.

“They got the ball to me; I was running hard,” he said. “We’re a family. We like the family environment. Nobody cares who scores the most points. We’re all about winning.

“That’s what we care about.”

Knar and Wildcats junior guard Griffin Pils each finished with 11 points.