Boone, Libertyville shoot past Lake Zurich
Over the past decade boys prep hoops fans in Lake County, more notably the North Suburban Conference, have been treated to some deep postseason successes by numerous teams highlighted by Stevenson's 2015 IHSA Class 4A state championship.
Fans of two other NSC programs who were in action Tuesday night in league play, Lake Zurich (4A Elite Eight in 2018) and Libertyville (a 4A sectional finalist a season ago) have also been treated to their share of recent memories as well.
And if the effort especially made by the host Wildcats in a 67-52 win on Tuesday is any indication, fans may want to stay tuned this season as it moved to 3-0 in North Suburban play (7-3 overall).
"In playing a tough, physical Lake Zurich team, it's great to get the win," Libertyville coach Brian Zyrkowski said. "You can't take this conference lightly. Everybody's good and on any given night anybody can beat anybody. There's no days off in this conference. Especially looking at this year. We've had to play (thus far) Warren, Lake Forest and Lake Zurich - three quality teams who are playing great basketball and doing an incredible job this early in the year."
The Wildcats played in a way that their head coach could add in the conversation by breaking free from Lake Zurich in the third going on an 11-0 run that put them ahead to stay at 47-32 with 3:01 left in the quarter on Will Buchert's second 3-pointer of the game. It began with a hoop inside from game-leading scorer Aidyn Boone (27 points, 11 rebounds) followed by back-to-back baskets from Kaj Sorenson that Boone added a pair of successful tosses from the charity stripe prior to Buchert's triple.
The Bears could get no closer than 53-44 on a drive down the lane by Michael Boenzi with 6:40 to play.
Buchert, who came second after Boone in the scoring column with 18 points, gave credit to his teammates successfully passing the basketball and finding him for his successful shooting display as he went 7 for 12 overall including a 4 for 6 performance beyond the arc.
"My guys found me when I was open," Buchert said. "I think in our last couple of games, we've had tremendous ball movement, everyone is getting open looks and we're all feeding off each other's energy."
Six-foot-3 senior swingman Jack Huber added 12 first half points for Libertyville, all from beyond the arc, while Brendan Powers' 13 and Noah Kyrychenko's 11 paced Lake Zurich who dropped to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in NSC play.