Vernon Hills hangs on to down Deerfield
Vernon Hills boys basketball coach Matt McCarty plans to pull for San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in Sunday's Super Bowl.
McCarty grew up near Charleston, home of Eastern Illinois University, Garoppolo's alma mater.
But one of McCarty's hoopsters channeled his inner Patrick Mahomes - Jimmy G's counterpart from Kansas City in the big game - against visiting Deerfield in a Central Suburban League North game Friday night. Cougars senior Tony Brown, a 5-foot-9 guard, whipped a no-look bounce pass to a cutting Josh Liu at a crucial juncture in the fourth quarter.
The 5-9 Liu received the slick delivery and made an easy layup following a 5-0 Deerfield spurt at the outset of the frame. VH would score only 5 more points in the final 3:02 but hung on for a 49-46 victory.
Yes, 49ers fan McCarty watched his club tally 49 points.
"Tony did a nice job controlling the game when we needed him to do that," said McCarty, whose starting point guard, senior Aiden Isaacson, sat out with an injured back; Liu got the starting nod (his third of the season) and finished with 13 points and a team-high 3 steals.
VH (10-12, 3-4 in the CSL North) also had to battle without forward and sixth man Sam Polisky (injured shoulder).
"Tony," the coach added, "has the ability to look this way and then pass that way."
VH looked like it would coast to a triumph after outscoring Deerfield (13-8, 3-4) 17-7 in the third quarter to take a 42-31 lead. Cougars senior forward Jack Barszcz was an inferno in high-tops after the break, nailing a trio of 3s in the first 4:19. Liu and sophomore forward Erik Rimas (11 points, 4 rebounds) each connected once from 3-point hardwood during the flurry.
The 6-5 Barszcz paced the hosts in points (17) and boards (8) and completed a football-ish pass from a baseline late in the fourth quarter. Barszcz's heave found a route-running Nick Burrows near the free-throw line at the other end of the court.
Burrows, a 6-foot senior guard, then gained separation and netted a layup, giving Vernon Hills a 46-41 advantage with 12 ticks remaining in the teams' first meeting of the winter. Burrows, who scored all 4 of his points in the final 8 minutes, had taken a charge and stolen a pass earlier in the quarter.
"We showed our toughness with our defense," said Brown, a shortstop whose middle-infield partner in the spring is none other than backcourt mate Liu.
The Cougars' defense held 6-11 Warriors senior center Brandon Lieb scoreless. Lieb and 6-7 junior teammate Walter Mattingly (11 points) each fouled out in the fourth quarter. Warriors senior guard Joshua Garland also scored 11 points, and Deerfield sophomore guard Luke Woodson tallied 10.
"We talked about Brandon Lieb for four days," McCarty, the Cougars' 17th-year coach, said after notching his 201st career win at the school. "We had active hands when the ball was in his hands. We were pests.
"We had to be pests."
Rimas annoyed the visiting team and its fans - and delighted everybody else in the gym - with his buzzer-beating trey before intermission. The triple exclamation-pointed a 5-0 run.
Barszcz sustained the momentum with his 3-pointer in the first minute of the third quarter, stretching the lead to 28-24.
He also did something fitting on Super Bowl weekend after snaring a rebound in the final seconds.
He spiked the basketball.
"Jack was hyped after a win like that," Brown said. "And he wasn't the only one."