advertisement

Libertyville edges Grayslake Central at Hardwood Classic

There was little room for error when Libertyville faced Grayslake Central on Thursday morning in second-round boys basketball action of the 41st annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic in Wheeling.

Libertyville trailed 49-48 in this back-and-forth contest with 4:17 to play, but the Wildcats came through down the stretch to pull out an exciting, 55-51 victory.

Libertyville (5-7) will meet Notre Dame at 12:15 p.m. Friday, while Grayslake Central (6-6) will take on Taft at 9 a.m.

A driving basket by Antonio Crews (13 points) gave the Rams a 49-48 edge before Travis Clark hit a 3-pointer from the left baseline to give Libertyville the lead for keeps at 51-49 with 3:40 to play.

Not only did the Wildcats outrebound the Rams 24-12 overall, but they grabbed two key offensive boards before senior guard Josh Steinhaus' jumper boosted the lead to 53-49 with 2:02 remaining.

Grayslake Central pulled within 53-51 on an inside hoop by Grant Hardy (12 points) with 1:20 to go. Libertyville's Brian Wilterdink (team-high 14 points) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 37 seconds left to give the Rams a chance to tie or win the game.

But Libertyville's Patrick Graham blocked a jump shot by Crews with nine seconds remaining, before Steinhaus (12 points) hit two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the Wildcats win.

"To come out and go toe to toe with them I'm really proud, and we had a chance to win it or go to overtime," said Grayslake Central coach Kosta Kougias, whose team shot 57 percent from the field to only 43 percent for Libertyville. "We were down eight (at halftime) so for us to just continue to fight I'm really proud of the effort and urgency we showed."

The Wildcats took their biggest lead of the game at 32-24 heading into the intermission as Jackson Watson scored all 12 of his points in the first half.

Led by senior Coby Moe (game-high 15 points) with four of his five 3-pointers in the third quarter on four straight 3-pointers, the Rams forced a 41-41 deadlock heading into the decisive fourth quarter.

"Grayslake Central came out with a lot more energy to start the game, but credit out guys to pull it out, and we got some big rebounds in the end," said Libertyville coach Brian Zyrkowski, whose team lost a close game to Fremd on Wednesday. "Josh Steinhaus just continued to grind it out. He got a bunch of steals (3), rebounds (5) and assists (4) for us. It's nice to be able to finish games at this point of the season."

Graham wound up with 6 points and 7 rebounds, while the 6-foot-7 Hardy had 5 blocked shots for the Rams.

"It was good to get a win, but we still have a lot to work on, especially on defense," Steinhaus said. "Hopefully we can carry this momentum on to the next game. It was a good win."

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.