N. Chicago 54, Libertyville 46

Libertyville's boys basketball team was poised for another upset victory.

The Wildcats, who had knocked off Stevenson in the third-place game in the Wheeling Hardwood Classic before dealing Warren a loss on Wednesday, were in command against North Chicago on Friday night.

Libertyville held the Warhawks to 12 first-half points on 20 percent shooting and had a 13-point lead.

But the upset was not to be on this night. The Warhawks recovered in second half and earned a 54-46 victory over the Wildcats in a North Suburban Conference crossover in Libertyville.

North Chicago (16-2) needed something to get back on track, and coach Gerald Coleman bluntly let his team know about it at halftime in the locker room.

"I told the kids, 'We score 90 points a game,' " Coleman said. " 'You have only 12 -- you don't have any heart. I don't know this team and I'm ashamed to be associated with them.' They were the ones to take over and then I just left.

"We've got a good team when they decide to play. They just came out with no intensity and we couldn't score a basket."

Libertyville (7-7) held a 25-12 advantage entering the second half.

Then senior Kentrall Wilson began the North Chicago comeback, scoring 10 of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter as the Warhawks outscored Libertyville 20-12 to trail 37-32 heading into the final quarter.

"I had to come out with more intensity than the first half," Wilson said. "We just didn't come out with a lot of heart. We just had to play our game and go to the bucket."

North Chicago pushed the tempo in the fourth quarter as Patrick Terrell scored 10 of his 16 points during an 18-5 run and the Warhawks took a 50-42 lead with 1:43 remaining. Libertyville couldn't recover after that.

The Warhawks shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, making 17 of 25 shots.

"(North Chicago) controlled the second half more than we did," Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. "They picked up things defensively and didn't give what we got in the first half.

"It was all in transition. North Chicago got so many layups. It's hard to get defense for the two-on-ones."

Libertyville played quite well, opening the game with a 13-8 lead and extending it to 13 points by halftime.

Wildcats junior Jeremy Letchford scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the first half and had down 6 rebounds.

Joey Aiello added 10 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and Greg Vente chipped in 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

"Our schedule doesn't seem to get easier," said Bogumil, whose team hosts Lake Forest tonight. "It's like playing in the ACC -- Duke, North Carolina, Maryland. It's like, 'Who's next?' "

Round Lake 62, Wauconda 60: Vernon Randolph scored 22 points and Jerome Brown added 18, as the visiting Panthers hung on in North Suburban Prairie Division action.

Wauconda's Connor Dimick had two chances to win the game in the final seconds with 3-pointers.

"We had two good looks," Bulldogs coach Rich Wolf said. "It was the right kid, right time, right place …. I feel bad for the kid."

Dimick and Bryce Lahrman each scored 15 points for Wauconda (8-10, 1-5). Bulldogs' leading scorer Eric Grozavescu suffered an apparent broken nose in the first quarter and did not return.

Javier Martinez added 11 points for Round Lake (4-12, 2-4).

Lakes 66, Antioch 52: Kevin Guirand scored 26 points in front of a packed house, as the host Eagles extended their winning streak to 11 games.

Lakes (12-4, 5-1 North Suburban Prairie) also received 11 points from John Androus, 10 from Trey Williams and 8 from Kevion Rice.

Grayslake North 47, McHenry 44: Brandon Schroth scored 15 points for the host Knights (4-9).

Joliet Catholic 62, Carmel 53: The Corsairs lost the East Suburban Catholic Conference game despite David Venegoni's career-high 29 points.

St. Joseph 59, St. Viator 55:ŒSt. Viator knew it had its work cut out in facing St. Joseph, the seventh-ranked team in Class 3A boys basketball state poll.

And the things got a bit tougher as the Lions fell behind 19-5 late in the first quarter.

St. Joseph increased its advantage to 16 points midway through the second quarter, but a gritty St. Viator team took a 1-point lead into the final quarter.

From there St. Joseph (12-4, 4-1) converted 11 of 16 free throws in the final quarter to hang onto a 59-55 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory in Westchester.

But St. Viator (6-8, 1-4) used a stingy defense, some clutch shooting by senior guard Michael Landuyt (15 points) and senior forward Eric Huber (11 points) to put a scare into the host Chargers.

"You always want to win," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski of his resilient squad. "But that was some of the best basketball we played this year. We turned the corner a little bit and I'm really proud of these guys."

The Chargers used a 15-0 run in the opening quarter converting three 3-pointers including a pair by Diamond Taylor (14 points) in taking a 19-5 advantage with 1:00 remaining in the quarter.

But Viator scored the final 5 points of the quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by sophomore guard Alan Aboona from over three-quarters of the court awa.

St. Joseph increased its advantage to 28-12 midway through the second quarter, but Viator narrowed the deficit to 35-22 at halftime.

The Lions then used a 12-2 run to begin the third quarter narrowing the deficit to 37-34 with 4:02 remaining in the quarter.

"We came out flat in the first half," said Landuyt who scored 5 points during the Lions surge. "Our coaches told us to pick it up at halftime. Our objective was to attack and not be scared."

Senior forward Matt O'Malley (8 points) combined with sophomore forward Richard McLoughlin (9 points and 10 rebounds) neutralizing the Chargers inside, while Landuyt, Huber, and Jim Platania pressured the guards, giving the Lions a 41-40 advantage entering the final quarter.

"The beginning of the third quarter we scored some points and got some stops," said Majkowski, whose team converted 7 of 14 shots to open the second half. "It started to give our kids the confidence that hey we can do this."

"They play us tough every year," said St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore. "I knew we were in for it."

But senior guard David Dixon scored 7 of his game high 18 points in the final quarter combining with junior guard Nate Rogers (11 points) who added 9 fourth-quarter points to repel the Lions upset bid.

"We were right where we wanted to be," added Landuyt of the Lions, who trailed by only 3 points with 25 seconds remaining. "I think this could be big for us heading into the second half of the season."