Chen's long shot helps lift Libertyville past Carmel

Yes, it was the shot of the game. But alas, no automobile for Libertyville senior, Cameron Chen. And for that matter, he never called bank on that shot.

In better news for Chen, opposing coach, Zach Ryan, credited him with the shot that spurred Chen's Wildcats to victory on Tuesday night.

Let's set the stage for this miracle shot. Libertyville (15-9) had finally opened up a decent lead over visiting Carmel, 47-41 as the third-quarter clock wound down. Chen then had his 15 minutes of fame, in just 0.5 seconds.

"That was pretty sweet,'' Chen said. "I knew there were 0.5 seconds so I just chucked it up there. I want to say that I called bank but that wasn't true."

So Chen fired the ball all the way down court, where it found the backboard on the other side of the court and fell into the hoop. It was good for 3 points.

The Wildcats won the second half of this rivalry game decisively and posted a 74-60 victory in the last home game of the season.

This game couldn't have been closer for the first half. CJ Duff, Carmel's big scoring threat, almost pulled off a stunner himself. He scored his team's first 9 points, and only a layup from freshman Lukas Galdoni in the final seconds prevented Duff from scoring all of his team's points in the first quarter.

Carmel (12-14) opened some breathing room in the second quarter. On a driving layup from promising freshman guard Jonathan Roeser (12 points), the Corsairs were up 27-23.

"We are playing a lot of young kids,'' Ryan said. "And we are getting a little better. But a shot like that (Chen) makes things a little harder."

The game was tied at 27-27 heading to the second half. The Cats came out firing in the second half. Jabari Quigley (14 points) had 9 of his points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.

"Our offense was stagnant in the first half,'' Quigley said. "We took too many jump shots. We came to play in the second half today."

Quigley's display turned on his teammates' scoring. Drew Peterson (25 points, 5 rebounds) dominated play in the fourth quarter, as he poured in 8 points in the first three minutes of the quarter. The Libertyville lead hit as high as 25 points.

Duff kept on driving to the basket and he, too, finished with 25 points. The battle under the boards between 6-foot-6 Ben Kimpler of Libertyville and 6-8 Sean Foster of Carmel was a good one. Foster managed 8 rebounds. Kimpler also had a big second half and scored 11 points.

Chen had the ultimate 3-pointer and also added a 3-point play for his 6 points.

"This was the last home game for us seniors,'' Chen said. "We knew we had to leave it all out on the floor."