advertisement

Jacobs' change leads to victory over Libertyville

Rarely does a halftime adjustment have as profound an effect as the modification the Jacobs boys basketball team made in Saturday's 61-50 nonconference win against visiting Libertyville.

Jacobs (15-3) managed to tie Libertyville 26-26 through two quarters, but 13 first-half turnovers against the Wildcats' 1-3-1 zone defense was the impetus for halftime change.

"We feel like we're pretty prepared for them and we welcome zones," Jacobs coach Jim Roberts said, "but for some reason we just didn't make the simple play and catch and pass real well."

Thus, Roberts shook things up. He moved 6-foot-8 forward Cameron Krutwig from the high post to the low post, which allowed the big junior to better attack the basket while continuing to kick the ball outside to perimeter shooters like he had in the first half.

The change worked on both fronts. Krutwig, who was visited Friday night by Wisconsin coach Greg Gard, scored 13 of his game-high 19 points and grabbed 9 of his game-high 17 rebounds in the second half.

Meanwhile, Krutwig's presence in the low block kept Libertyville (12-8) from focusing on Jacobs' outside shooters. With room to operate senior Loen Nelson and sophomore Ryan Phillips each canned a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 14-3 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and staked Jacobs to a 48-35 lead.

"We knew what they were going to do," Libertyville coach Brent Mork said of moving Krutwig from high to low. "We actually talked at halftime about the adjustment they were going to make. We just couldn't do it."

Led by Krutwig, Jacobs dominated the boards 36-17 and committed only 3 second-half turnovers.

"We definitely talked about that," Krutwig said of valuing possessions, "being strong with the ball, seeing past double teams and finding the open guy."

The Golden Eagles also made their shots, particularly from long range. Jacobs sank 9 of 20 from beyond the arc, including a 5-of-7 performance by Nelson, who entered the game with 15 3-pointers this season.

After sinking his career-best fifth 3-pointer of the game, Nelson turned to his bench and gave the Michael Jordan shrug.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "It was like 'Holy (cow), what's going on?'"

"Loen's one of those guys who can shoot it, but he really hasn't made a lot of shots," Roberts said. "That's what he's capable of doing. And maybe the next night we'll have another guy come in and knock down shots. Hopefully, we can build from that and take a little confidence."

Jacobs (15-3) shot 60.5 percent from the field overall (23 of 39) compared to 34 percent for Libertyville (19 of 56).

"I heard (Friday) night (in an overtime win against Cary-Grove) they weren't hitting their shots," Mork said of the Golden Eagles. "Today they came out firing and they were tremendous. And when you have a big kid like (Krutwig) on the inside who can just thoroughly dominate - he's got to be one of the best big men in Chicagoland - and you match him up with his unselfishness and his ability to hit shooters, they're a really, really tough team to defend."

Senior guard Paul Steinhaus and junior guard Harrison Bach each scored 11 points to lead the Wildcats.

Nelson finished with 15 points and Phillips added 10 points and 5 rebounds for Jacobs.

  Jacobs' Nikolas Balkcom (32) pressures Libertyville's Brandon Rule Saturday at Jacobs. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  Libertyville's Paul Steinhaus (11) tries to get a shot off among a slew of Jacobs players Saturday on Saturday in Algonquin. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  Libertyville's Harrison Bach (33) hands the ball off to his teammate Paul Steinhaus (11) on Saturday at Jacobs. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.