Inspired effort helps Libertyville past Mundelein
Jack Lipp would be proud.
Lipp's No. 22 jersey was draped over an empty chair next to the coaches on the Libertyville bench.
The 2014 Libertyville graduate, who tragically lost his life last year in a freak accident while attending college in Columbia, Mo., had his jersey number retired a couple of games ago. A foundation in his memory was established and has already raised over $6,000 toward a scholarship for a Libertyville basketball player or golfer, as those were his two sports.
"All the guys knew him, and a lot of them played with him. He was a special guy and great person and he serves as an inspiration to all of us," said Wildcats coach Brent Mork.
In an inspired effort, Libertyville varsity boys basketball team claimed an 89-65 North Suburban Lake Division victory over Mundelein before a packed house at Libertyville on Friday night.
"For the most part, we executed well but still need to clean up some of the little things," said Mork, whose team improved to 12-7 overall and 3-4 in the Lake Division with just about a month left in the regular season.
The first quarter saw Libertyville pound the ball inside to senior center Ben Kimpler, who poured in 8 of his 12 points to help lead the Cats to a 21-15 advantage after the opening eight minutes.
When Kimpler wasn't muscling his way around in the paint, senior guard Paul Steinhaus was busy lighting it up to the tune of 12 first-half points. Steinhaus ended up leading the Cats with 18 points. Kimpler also snared 12 boards and Steinhaus 5.
But Mundelein is known for' deadly outside shooting, and it was the Woolford brothers and sophomore forward Tommy Marcotte supplying it on this night. Junior guard Aaron Woolford had the hot hand in the first quarter, scoring 7, while senior guard Isaiah Woolford popped in 9 of his 17 in the first half. Marcotte scored all of his 10 points in the first 16 minutes of play.
Seven Mustang three-pointers in the first half helped keep the deficit to under 10 points (45-36) heading into the locker room.
"We couldn't stop them and needed to defend better," said Mork. "We allowed too many uncovered jump shots."
The telling tale came in the third quarter, when Libertyville switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense, which helped force 9 second-half Mundelein turnovers.
"That (1-3-1 zone) really helped slow them down and changed the complexion of the game," said Mork.
In also helped spark the transition game for Libertyville, which outscored Mundelein 23-11 in the third to grab a 68-47 lead after three quarters.
Senior guard Jabari Quigley (13 points) and sophomore guard Drew Peterson (11 points) helped Libertyville connect on 16 of 32 field goals in the second half.
The closest the Mustangs got was 8 points on a couple of occasions early in the third. Aaron Woolford picked up where he left off in the first by scoring 16 in the second half.
Mundelein has been a little depleted this season because of injuries and was playing without three key players in Jeff Bikus, Kyle Enright and Andrew Silva.
Still, the Mustangs (1-17, 0-6) played their hearts out and clearly are better than their record suggests.
"We came out hard in the first half, but we definitely didn't have the same intensity in the second half," said Marcotte. "And we need to rebound better. We're still fighting and trying hard and as long as we keep developing, that's all we can ask for."