Too little, too late for Libertyville as Zion-Benton prevails
If Libertyville boys basketball coach Brent Mork could bottle up the Wildcats' fourth quarter at Zion-Benton on Friday night, he would save it - if only to sprinkle a little of that magic on the first three quarters.
"I think we have proven that we can play with anyone," Mork said. "We need to play a full game for 32 minutes and too many times we are playing 16-minute games."
The fourth-quarter comeback that saw the visitors battle back from a 13-point third quarter deficit, but it came up a bit short as Libertyville dropped its third in a row 72-64 to Zion.
"We kind of spent a lot of time early on dribbling and against a team like Zion - they are too good, you can't do that," Mork said. "We just weren't seeing the floor very well and it got us behind."
When Libertyville (9-6, 2-3) did make its comeback, senior Ben Kimpler and sophomore Drew Peterson got the Wildcats back in it.
Kimpler started the Wildcats' comeback with a 3-point play then took a pass from Peterson as he cut to the basket, and all of a sudden Libertyville was within 57-53 with 4:45 left.
"In the situation we were in, we knew all we needed was a stop and a score and that would get us back in the game," said Kimpler whose 16 points tied for team-high honors with Peterson. "We knew that if we picked up the intensity in the second half that would lead to things on offense."
When Kimpler, who will play football at Miami of Ohio next fall, wasn't scoring, he was passing. His 6 assists led the team with many of them finding Peterson.
"We know what we have in Ben," Mork said. "It's on me for not getting him the ball there a little more in the second half."
The finest play of the night for Kimpler came after he missed the second of two free throws. The ball bounced off a number of Zion players, then a Libertyville player. As the ball started to sail out of bounds, Kimpler turned from center to wide receiver and batted the ball back in bounds to a cutting Peterson for the layup. The highlight real play got the Wildcats within 62-59 with 2:53 to go.
"I felt kind of bad because I missed the free throw so I had to make up for it," said Kimpler who also added 9 boards to go with his 16 points.
Libertyville would get 1 point closer on a free throw from Brandon Rule (5 points) but would get no closer. Kimpler fouled out on the next possession.
Even with Libertyville cutting the deficit down to as little as 2, there was no panic for Zion (11-4, 3-1) and junior Damarquis Henry.
"We practice all of these kinds of scenarios every day," said Henry, who led all scorers with 18 points. "Libertyville is a good team so you know they were going to make a run - but we were ready."
Henry got the Zion offense started early on. He lit up the Wildcats early with 5 quick points as the Zee-Bees opened a 17-9 advantage in the first quarter.
"Coach mentioned to us that we needed to come out and jump, on this team right away," Henry said. "We wanted a hot start and we got that."
Libertyville was also paced by senior Paul Steinhaus. He scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half.