Mathewson, Libertyville find winning focus
As Libertyville senior forward Luke Mathewson elevated his 6-foot-5 frame Friday night to shoot a fourth-quarter 3-pointer from a corner, he heard … nothing.
Even though dozens of student Wildcats fans, only a few feet away, cheered and bounced in a section of the home bleachers.
“I was kind of focusing,” Mathewson said.
His 3 kind of went in.
The clutch shot, with 1:25 left, gave Libertyville a 56-53 lead over Stevenson.
Wildcats senior guard Griffin Pils, surrounded by a trio of trapping Patriots, had fired the pass to hot-hand Luke (11 points, three 3s).
“Awesome pass,” Mathewson said.
Awesome 62-60 win, for Libertyville.
“I did hear the place go nuts, after my shot,” Mathewson admitted.
Hoopsters, of all ages, live for a moment Mathewson experienced Friday night in a North Suburban Lake boys basketball game.
But a Liv was on the minds of Wildcats and coaches and everybody else in the place Friday night. Liv is a local sixth-grader and the Liv in “Liv for a Cure,” the name of the team’s annual cystic fibrosis fundraiser/awareness campaign.
“A great cause,” Mathewson said. “A great reminder, too, that there’s more to life than basketball.”
Stevenson (13-9, 4-5 in the NSC Lake) had more energy than the hosts did in the first half. Much more.
The Pats outrebounded the Wildcats 23-7 in the first half and limited the Wildcats to 3 points (all free throws) in the second quarter.
Stevenson scored the final 11 points of the second quarter to secure a 33-20 advantage at the break.
“It was frustrating, that first half,” Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil said. “Part of what I told them at the half was, ‘Hey, we’re at home, and this is a big game, a big conference game.’ ”
The words did wonders.
Libertyville (14-7, 4-5) looked like a completely different club in the third quarter, producing a 17-4 run to tie it at 37-37. Senior guard Anthony Mack (18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) struck for 8 points in the stretch, including a pair of treys in the first 1:16 of the frame.
Classmate Ellis Matthews (14 points, 4 boards, 2 steals) netted 6 in the game-turning span.
“We persevered, behind a veteran group,” said Bogumil, whose boys of winter fell 69-62 in OT to Stevenson in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 16. “Our guys showed a lot of guts.”
Added Mathewson: “Whatever it was we were doing in the first half, it wasn’t good, wasn’t good at all. We put together a great team effort in the second half. Defense, rebounds, contributions … from everybody.”
Pils (17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals) provided sharp free-throw shooting. He went 9-for-9 from the line, with 6 of the freebies falling through in the final 38.2 seconds of the game.
The rest of his team went 8-for-9.
“We won the first half; they hit their shots and played harder than we did in the second half,” said Pats coach Pat Ambrose. “We settled for too many 3s, and we crumbled.
“We didn’t shoot well; I didn’t coach well, didn’t put our guys in the right spots. Mack played tough; Mathewson played tough.”
Stevenson freshman guard Jalen Brunson (18 points, 4 rebounds) shared game-high scoring honors with Mack. He hit a 3, with eight seconds left, to pare Libertyville’s edge to 60-58.
But a pair of Pils free throws, three seconds later, soothed the home crowd.
“(Libertyville) came out shooting in the third quarter, and shot well,” said Stevenson sophomore guard Matt Morrissey (13 points). “Maybe we thought we had it. Tough loss; it definitely hurts.”
Senior guard Michael Fleming and forward Colby Cashaw (two first-quarter dunks, 6 boards) scored 10 points apiece for the Patriots.
Libertyville heads north today to play Maine South — at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.