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Cashaw makes amends as Stevenson tops Libertyville

Stevenson junior Connor Cashaw is going to owe teammate and fellow junior Matt Johnson big-time.

“I’m going to take him to dinner,” Cashaw said about paying his debt to his teammate. “He gave me a bad look so I promised him I would take care of him.”

Midway through the third quarter, Johnson had split the defense of visiting Libertyville on his way to a 3-point play the old-fashioned way when, out of nowhere, came Cashaw.

As the ball hung on the rim, the high-flying Cashaw tip-dunked it in.

Johnson could only shake his head and smile. His 2 points didn’t count after all, and Cashaw owed his teammate.

But all of it was easily forgiven and forgotten thanks in large part to the performance Cashaw and the Patriots put together in downing the visiting Wildcats 65-43 in a North Suburban Lake division contest Friday night in Lincolnshire.

Cashaw put together one of his best performances of the season, scoring 20 points to go with 7 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals and a dunk — that didn’t count.

“Connor is a very good player and he was very focused on the task at hand tonight,” said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose.

With the Patriots having a big game against state-ranked Marian Catholic scheduled for Saturday night, the hosts took care of business early as they raced out to a 32-15 halftime cushion behind 11 points each from Cashaw and junior Jalen Brunson. Brunson tied his teammate for top honors with 20 points.

“(Cashaw) is a really good player and he made us pay on a couple of occasions tonight,” said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. “There was one sequence where we thought we had him blocked out on a rebound and he just came from nowhere to make a play.”

Stevenson (16-1, 5-1) opened the second half much like it closed the first — with a big run to essentially put the game away. The 7-2 burst took the margin over 20 points for the first time and it never dipped back down after that.

Along with the play of Brunson and Cashaw were outstanding defensive efforts from senior Matt Morrissey and junior Cameron Green.

Green was tasked with trying to slow down Libertyville junior Joe Borcia. He still led Libertyville (9-7, 2-5) with 15 points but needed 15 shots to get them.

“I thought Cam Green had a real nice game tonight,” Ambrose said. ‘That’s a tough matchup in the post and I thought he played well and shot it well too.”

Morrissey also had a tough matchup trying to slow down Cats senior Jack Lipp. Lipp, who was banged up after the Wildcats’ win over Antioch on Tuesday, tied his season low with 9 points.

Images: Stevenson vs. Libertyville boys basketball

  Libertyville center Joe Borcia, left, looks to take a rebound away from Stevenson guard Matt Johnson at Stevenson on Friday. George LeClaire/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
  Stevenson guard Connor Cashaw looks to shoot against Libertyville center Joe Borcia. George LeClaire/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
  Libertyville center Joe Borcia shoots between Stevenson defenders Parker Nichols, left, and Connor Cashaw. George LeClaire/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
  Stevenson Jalen Brunson shoots around Libertyville center Joe Borcia at Stevenson on Friday. George LeClaire/gleclaire@dailyherald.com
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