Libertyville holds off St. Viator

There's an old saying that goes, "Familiar things made new and new things made familiar."

For both Libertyville and St. Viator their season-opening week of boys basketball competition at the Lions' 43rd annual Thanksgiving Basketball Classic meant adjusting to their respective squads gaining needed experience.

"Every year you have to adjust to a different group of kids and this year we have a lot of kids who can put the ball in the hole," Libertyville coach Brian Zyrkowski said.

"This is all about experience and our guys are experiencing some good competition."

"It's a lot of fun to play the first four games against great programs," St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said in regard to the five-team field that includes Conant, Evanston, and Prospect.

By the time the final horn sounded both teams gave those in attendance at Cahill Gym an example of what good competition can be as the visiting Wildcats held off a furious late-game rally from the host school in earning a 62-60 win on Day 4 of tourney play that left each team 2-1 on the young campaign.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw Libertyville grab a 29-28 advantage at the break on 6-foot-2 senior Jackson Watson's third 3-pointer, the Wildcats started to pull away from Viator. Using an 18-8 third quarter in which they tallied the period's first 8 points over the opening 2:38, Libertyville led 47-36. That lead remained at 12 (53-41) when Will Moore fed Patrick Graham at the 6:25 mark of the fourth.

It was then that Viator would roar back with a 17-5 run that evened things up at 58 when Michael Campagna (19 points) took a Joshua Arogundade feed inside to the hoop with 46 seconds left in regulation.

The Wildcats took the lead back for good a couple of ticks later at the charity stripe where two Marc Michelotti tosses made it 60-58.

After an interception of a Viator pass inside, the Moore-Graham connection worked again for layup that extended the Libertyville lead to 62-58.

Then, a successful drive inside from St. Viator's Connor Kochera (game-high 22 points) set up a three-point play chance that sent the William & Mary recruit to the foul line with 1.9 seconds left on the clock. After Kochera missed the free throw attempt, the Lions successfully rebounded the ball but would not find success in missing a pair of shots in that time span to force overtime.

"We knew they were gonna make a run," Zyrkowski said. "Their defensive pressure at times would cause some offensive (opportunities) for them and they came back. But our guys kept our composure and in these last three games we've learned a lot about these guys. There's a lot of fight and a lot of heart in this room."

Wildcat junior guard Blake Ellingson (15 points) paced the victorious Libertyville effort. Graham added 12, while Michelotti and Watson scored 11 apiece. Libertyville went 22 of 24 at the foul line for the game.

"You saw balanced scoring," Zyrkowski added. "Next guy up."

"Sometimes you really don't deserve to win," Hayes said. "We didn't play well. They shot it well. You can't give up (62) points. It's a learning experience for us and we'll continue to get better."

Each team completes tourney play Saturday afternoon with a chance to take home team title honors as Libertyville faces Conant while Viator takes on Evanston.