St. Viator knocks off Libertyville

St. Viator's boys basketball team has just two starters back from last year's regional championship team.

But what a couple of starters.

Jeremiah Hernandez and Trey Calvin showed why they might be the best backcourt tandem in the state as the duo helped rally St. Viator from a 10-point first half deficit to a 61-53 victory over Libertyville at the St. Viator Joe Majkowski Thanksgiving Classic Monday in Arlington Heights.

Hernandez scored 29 points, with 18 of those coming the in the second half and Calvin dropped in 19 points including four 3-pointers as the Lions leaned heavily on their two Divison-I signees.

"The first one is always tough," St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said. "We have a lot of young guys who have not played on a varsity floor yet. It was an eye-opening experience for those guys. We are lucky enough to have two guys who are pretty darn good in Jerry and Trey to calm us down and save the day for us."

Despite being down 10 points at one point and 5 points at the half, it didn't seem to faze Hernandez and Calvin.

"It was first-game jitters for us," Hernandez said. "We are a brand new team and we were a little rattled at the beginning. It is not about me and Trey, we just followed the game plan. It is supposed to be that way because we have a lot of expectations on our shoulders."

Calvin, who scored 9 points in the final period, said he and Hernandez like to control the tempo.

"When Jerry and I are controlling everything, everything seems to fall into place," Calvin said. "We have to control the game and set the pace."

It was Libertyville that set the pace early as the Wildcats showed that they are team to keep an eye on.

Trailing early in the game, Libertyville began to move the ball exceptionally well on the perimeter, finding open shots. Josh Steinhaus led a Wildcat volley of 3-pointers that had five different shooters banging down treys as Libertyville opened up a 25-15 lead with 3:42 left in the first half.

The Wildcats led 30-25 at the half and 42-38 with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.

St. Viator then began to use its quickness to force turnovers and the Lions also kept Libertyville off the offensive boards as they made a 9-0 run to lead 47-42 with 4:41 to play on a drive by Calvin.

Libertyville roared back to tie the game at 49 with. 3:03 to play on a basket by Steinhaus. The Lions then got a huge 3-pointer by Owen Hickey, his second of the game, to put St. Viator up for good with 2:30 to play.

"It was an interesting game," Libertyville coach Brian Zyrkowski said. "I think our guys started to believe. We had the lead and we just had possessions we could not put together. I thought for the most part we played a pretty good game. "

Zyrkowski likes the way his team meshed in its first game of the season.

"With our team, losing a Division I player, we still have a lot of guys with experience," Zyrkowski said. "There are guys that this was their first varsity basketball game and we are going to rely on them. I am happy."

Steinhaus led Libertyville with 16 points. Brian Wilterdink had 12 points while Will Moore and Jackson Watson each had 9 points.