Zalewski, Stevenson prevail at Libertyville
Befitting a competitor who just emerged from a fight, Stevenson guard Eric Zalewski walked out of the visiting locker room at Libertyville wearing a bandage above his left eye and a protective boot on his left foot.
"He's a really tough kid," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said after Zalewski's defense, Justin Smith's 26 points and 7 rebounds, and Willie Herenton's 23 points and 4 steals helped the North Suburban Conference leaders outlast Libertyville 58-47 on the latter's senior night Friday.
"(His look) fits," Ambrose added with a laugh.
Zalewski suffered what he called a "mid-foot" sprain during a recent practice. This week at practice the senior had his right wrist accidentally scratched by a teammate. Which explains why he taped the wrist against Libertyville, so the cut wouldn't open up. He also sports tape on his left pinkie after dislocating it earlier this season for the second time in the last year.
The Rocky Balboa cut above his eye came thanks to an errant Libertyville elbow.
"It's a long season," Zalewski said. "Bumps and bruises are expected. Basketball is a little underratedly physical, in my opinion. Senior year you got suck it up and try to do what's best for the team."
Stevenson (18-4, 10-1) is trying to lock up first place in the NSC and needed a four-quarter effort against Libertyville (10-14, 5-6), which was understandably amped. Before the game, the Wildcats honored seniors Steven Donovan, Joe Hohner, Brandon Rule, Drew Fortini and Harrison Bach.
Libertyville was within 41-35 late in the third quarter before a free throw by Smith and a steal and layup by Herenton to beat the buzzer put Stevenson up 44-35.
"We're proud of how our team battled, obviously," said Bach, who led Libertyville with 13 points, including a 3-pointer and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line. "We talked in the locker room before the game that it was going to come down to toughness and being relentless."
A 3-pointer by Drew Peterson got the Wildcats within 54-47 with 2:36 left in the fourth. Peterson then had a 3 try roll off the rim with one minute left that would have gotten the hosts within 4.
Stevenson limited Peterson to 11 points (two 3-pointers) on 4-of-11 shooting. The 6-foot-7 junior also had 8 rebounds.
"He's tough," Ambrose said. "We were afraid in his own gym that he'd light us up. He hit some shots against us last game early on that were just tough. We just said we're going to really try to limit his touches and limit his shots."
Smith shot 8 of 14 from the floor, including a pair of dunks, and was 9 of 11 from the stripe. Herenton made 11 of 15 shots (one 3-pointer). Early in the second half, Herenton - who scored a career-high 34 points against Zion-Benton three nights earlier - tossed up a runner in the lane that banked in. He flashed a "Jordan shrug" as he hustled back on defense.
"(Smith and Herenton) are tremendous players," said Rule, who had 6 points on a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers, helping the Wildcats forge a 16-16 tie heading into the second. "Coach said we were going to throw a bunch of different guys at them, and I thought the people who did guard them did a pretty good job for the most part. I don't think they got too many easy things."
While Aidan O'Connell grabbed 8 rebounds for Stevenson, outside of Smith and Herenton, the Patriots got scoring from only three other players for 9 total points.
"I thought we competed really hard," said Libertyville coach Brent Mork, who spent four seasons as an assistant under Ambrose. "They got a couple of really, really talented kids who played at a very high level tonight. Smith is tremendous and athletic, and Willie is so good off the dribble. And not only that, he's got a great jump shot added to that. He's a hard kid to guard."
Ryan Wittenbrink came off the Libertyville bench to add 9 points. The Wildcats never let the game get away from them.
"They're a good team," said Zalewski, who took a charge, had a couple of steals and went end to end for a second-quarter layup. "We knew that they were going to fight back. Credit to them. But one of the things we've really been trying to work on is playing with each other and playing for each other. I thought we did a good job of sticking together at the end and making plays when it counted."