Deichl gets it done as Libertyville rolls

Jack Deichl got Libertyville’s basketball team jacked up early.

But when coach Scott Bogumil gestured to his 6-foot-5 junior early in the fourth quarter of the Wildcats’ late-afternoon matinee against visiting Round Lake, Jack didn’t know jack.

“I thought he was looking at Nick Christy, who was sitting right next to me,” Deichl said after scoring a game-high 13 points, as Libertyville rebounded from its 19-point loss to Warren less than 24 hours earlier by pounding the Panthers 62-39 in a North Suburban Conference crossover Saturday.

“I got confused,” Deichl said.” I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’ ”

Libertyville was leading by 30 points early in the fourth when Bogumil looked at Deichl, who sitting on the bench, and waved his hand horizontally, as if making a slashing motion.

“He was one of the first guys we pulled out (in the third quarter) and I told him, ‘I want to get you a couple of minutes at the six-minute mark (of the fourth). I’ll let you know how it goes,’ ” Bogumil said. “I (motioned) and told him no.”

Deichl didn’t get it.

“All the kids were laughing,” Bogumil said. “I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m saying, I’m not putting you in now.’ ”

Truth is, Deichl had done enough.

He scored 11 points in helping stake Libertyville (11-5) to a 20-7 lead after one quarter. The game was never in doubt after that.

“It was definitely a game we needed to get coming off a tough one (Friday) night,” Deichl said, “just to kind of get back in the rhythm of things and just get everyone some playing time.”

Deichl shot 6 of 8 from the floor. While his teammates did a good job of finding him under the basket for layups against Round Lake’s small lineup, Deichl also showed off a right-handed baby hook that had the hosts up 11-0.

“I’ve had that move in my arsenal since I was younger,” Deichl said with a smile. “I really haven’t had the opportunity to show it off yet, but it was there tonight.”

Deichl was due. He had scored just 16 points in Libertyville’s last four games. He finished 1 point shy of his season-best total, which he got against Lake Zurich five weeks ago.

Against long-and-tall Warren on Friday night, Deichl scored just 1 point.

“There were no 6-8 guys he was going against (Saturday),” Bogumil said, smiling.

Libertyville led Round Lake (5-12) by a 38-9 margin at halftime, as the Wildcats shot 52 percent (15 of 29).

Wildcats guard Ellis Matthews scored 10 points and was the game’s only other double-digit scorer. Libertyville got 9 points from Brandon Stanfel and 8 (two 3-pointers) from Christy coming off the bench. Anthony Mack grabbed 6 rebounds.

“Just trying to keep the focus tonight was big, and I thought we did,” Bogumil said. “We executed real well. We were real unselfish, especially early.”

Round Lake was led by Juddon Carter with 9 points. Matt Houghton and Anthony Gutierrez (two 3s) each had 6.

“If we come out and make a shot or two early, maybe we feel better about ourselves,” Round Lake coach Jim Roberts said. “The fact of the matter is, when we play a team from the other side of the conference, as much as we try to get it in our kids’ minds that we’re fine, there’s like an intimidation factor.

“I’m disappointed in our kids, and our kids are disappointed in themselves. So, disappointed together.”