Pils leads Libertyville victory

Griffin Pils didn't proceed with caution at a time where it might have been expected Wednesday night.

But the Libertyville senior also wasn't just operating recklessly in a tight quarterfinal game with Fremd in the 34th annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling.

Pils' 3-pointer and tough spinning drive in the final 2:17 extended 2-point leads as Libertyville (9-2) hung on for a 56-53 victory.

"I'm used to making big plays down the stretch of games," Pils said after scoring a team-high 16 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. "I've been doing it my whole life."

A rebound by 6-foot-1 Anthony Mack, the smallest starter on the Wildcats, led to 2 free throws with 1.8 seconds left that put them in today's 8:45 p.m. semifinal. They'll face Naperville Central (7-3), which rallied from a 16-point deficit and scored the last 16 points in a stunning 74-60 upset of St. Viator (11-1).

"We persevered," said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. "There were two really good teams going at it - and we made a couple of plays at the end."

Especially from Pils, who saw an opening as he came around a Jack Deichl screen and calmly hit a 3 for a 52-47 lead at 2:17. Fremd's Sean Benka countered 17 seconds later with a 3.

On the next possession, Pils saw a different opening as he spun into the lane, pump faked and converted a drive to make it 54-50 at 1:45.

"He made some really smart decisions down the stretch," Bogumil said. "He's got a really good basketball IQ and a good feel for the game."

A 3-point play by Fremd 6-6 senior Adam Gorecki (20 points on 7-for-9 shooting) made it 54-53 at 1:14.

Pils missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at 0:34 and Fremd's Nate Serviss (8 points) grabbed his 16th rebound and coach Bob Widlowski called his last timeout with 16.6 seconds left.

Riley Glassman got the ball to an open Garrett Peters in the right corner but his 3 hit the front rim and Mack (13 points) got the miss.

"I thought either one had an opportunity there," Widlowski said of his top two options on the possession. "I thought we executed well in an end of game situation.

"We've hit a bunch of those as of late but tonight it didn't go in for us."

The Vikings did get one last desperation chance on a full-court play after Mack's free throws. But Glassman's off-balance try was off the mark and they will face Viator at 5:30 p.m. today.

Fremd took its third and last lead at 44-43 on Serviss' 2 free throws with 6:18 left. But Ellis Matthews (12 points) slipped inside for a rebound basket and scored on a drive to put Libertyville ahead to stay.

"We won our Thanksgiving tournament and our goal is to win every tournament we go into," Pils said.