Lake Forest gets past Libertyville
Part of Phil LaScala’s tie was in an unusual position for a good two minutes Friday night. The front of it hung over the Lake Forest boys basketball coach’s right shoulder and draped his back, as if a gust had blown it there.
LaScala, oblivious to his sudden unkemptness, had actually triggered the tie’s backward journey while coaching up a player before a timeout.
His Scouts were leading host Libertyville 62-51 at the time, midway through the fourth quarter. An alert — and fashion-conscious — assistant coach, sitting behind a standing LaScala, eventually flipped the tie to its proper position.
All was right again.
Neat and tidy.
Libertyville was interested in an entirely different kind of tie — a tie in the hoops game. The Wildcats trailed by 2 points three times in the final 3:42 of the third quarter. LF then netted the first 6 points of the final frame and bested Libertyville 71-58 for its first NSC Lake victory.
“We did a better job of composing ourselves against Libertyville’s pressure in the second half,” LaScala said after the teams combined for 64 free-throw attempts. “We beat the pressure, got some easy baskets. Those easy baskets — they gave us confidence.”
Wildcats senior guard Ryan Barth gave his club a lift in his second game after recovering from a knee injury, scoring a game-high 21 points, including 8 in the first eight minutes. He averaged 22 points per game in Libertyville’s first five games before suffering the injury in early December.
“He’s having a tough time cutting; he’s fast right now, not quick,” Wildcats coach Scott Bogumil said after his crew shot 24-of-39 from the free-throw line and slipped to 7-8, 2-4. “He’s fine, though, when he goes north and south.”
The Scouts — the southernmost residents of the NSC Lake before the game — received four double-digit scoring efforts, led by junior guard Thomas Durrett’s 16 points. Teammate Carter Bass netted 14 points, while John Hayes and Alex Schwartz each struck for 12.
Junior guard Griffin Pils allowed Libertyville to hang around in the second half. He tallied 10 of his 12 points after the break and provided spark after spark with his all-out hustle. His back-to-back buckets in the fourth quarter cut LF’s advantage to 55-49 at 5:17.
The Scouts (7-9, 1-5) essentially sealed matters by going 11-for-14 from the line in the final quarter.
Libertyville junior forward/center Luke Mathewson scored all 9 of his points via freebies. Energetic teammate Dan Ryan, a reserve guard, entered the game in the final minute and scored 3 points (field goal, free throw), garnering loud roars from the home spectators.
“How about that?” Bogumil said. “A JV guy. He works so hard.”