Libertyville's big finish sinks Naperville Central

Libertyville's boys basketball team showed that no lead is safe from them.

The Wildcats roared back from 17 points down with just over nine minutes left to stun Naperville Central 60-57 in the semifinals of the 38th annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic.

“We talked about it that it was one possession at a time,” Libertyville coach Brent Mork said. “You can't make up 17 points right away. Our guys finally started to defend and we made some great plays defensively.”

Libertyville (9-3) advances to the finals for the first time since 2005. The Wildcats will meet Notre Dame at 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

But the Wildcats had to overcome a Naperville Central team that played at a torrid pace in the first half as the Redhawks built a 36-24 lead at the break, thanks to shooting 7-for-11 from outside the arc.

Behind the hot shooting of James Kendrick, Harry Hallstrom and Benjamin Wolf, Central knocked down 9 of its first 13 shots to lead 26-16 with 6:21 left in the first half.

Libertyville banged out a couple of quick baskets by Drew Peterson to pull to within 26-20. But the Redhawks answered by scoring 8 unanswered points.

Libertyville opened the second half by stretching its 2-3 zone and clamping down on the Redhawks. The strategy worked as Central went cold early, and the Wildcats got within 36-30 on a 3-point play by Ben Kimpler with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

Naperville Central regained its shooting eye as Hallstrom and Kendrick each canned a 3. That spurred the Redhawks to an 11-1 run as they opened up a 47-31 advantage with 1:19 left in the third quarter.

Libertyville, however, refused to go away.

The Wildcats pressured Central into 3 turnovers and used some solid free throw shooting, converting 11 consecutive free throws to chip away at the lead. They were able to come all the way back on a basket by Kimpler with 1:13 to play that put his team up 56-55.

Naperville Central took its final lead on a pair of free throws by Matt Meier with 1:03 to play to make it 57-56.

Jabari Quigley answered with a 15-foot jumper to put his team up for good with 20-5 second left to play. After a rebound off a miss, Quigley canned a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds left to make it 60-57.

“I had a rough game before that,” said Quigley, who finished with just those 4 points. “We wanted this game really bad and I did what I could to help my team.”

Libertyville forced Naperville Central away from the basket, and the Redhawks had a desperation shot from 30 feet out that hit the front of the rim.

“It was a senior-heavy group that was on the court at the end,” said Kimpler, who finished with 19 points. “We knew we had to dig down and make stuff happen.”

Paul Steinhaus had 17 points and Peterson 14 for Libertyville.

Naperville Central was led by Hallstrom, who had 17 points, and Kendrick, who had 12.

Naperville Central (9-3), which had an 8-game winning streak snapped, will play Lake Park in the third-place game at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.