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Improbable postseason wins are always the best kind and Deerfield's boys basketball team set a new standard in improbability on Friday night.

The eleventh-seeded Warriors won 45-41 over third-seeded Barrington in a Class 4A regional title game at Libertyville despite failing to score a single basket from the floor in the game's fourth quarter and through an overtime period.

"Is that true? Come on. Really?" exclaimed Deerfield coach Brett Just, when informed of the feat his squad pulled off.

A scrappy Barrington defense held Deerfield (18-10) to nine field goals for the game, but the Warriors went 19-of-23 from the foul line during the game's final 12 minutes to earn themselves a regional title.

Deerfield finished 21-of-26 from the free-throw line for the night.

"Two nights ago we were disgusting from the line," Deerfield senior John Carney said, of his team's 54-44 regional semifinal win over Libertyville. "But we came in here confident that we weren't going to let a bad game from the line stop us.

"Barrington is an unbelievable ball club and our goal coming in was to not allow any uncontested layups or jump shots. We struggled in the first half but in the second half we picked it back up."

Barrington (19-11) raced to a 15-4 lead before Deerfield switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man and earned a 13-2 scoring edge to halftime, capped by a three-pointer from Alexander Sacks that tied the game at 17-17 at the break.

The teams were tied 26-26 after three quarters and 32-32 after four, "and then our seniors stepped to the line and made those shots," Just said.

Carney led all scorers with 12 points, went 8-of-8 from the line in the second half and 9-of-10 for the game, while teammate Sam Sternberg went 5-of-6 from the line in overtime.

"We were 12-of-27 the other night and I think it speaks to the guts of this team," Just said. "We didn't dwell on it with one day of preparation."

With its second consecutive regional title in tow, Deerfield will take on second-seeded Mundelein in a sectional semifinal hosted by Barrington on Wednesday.

"We've been talking about establishing the program for the last three years," Carney said. "Our coaches have done an outstanding job and we're going to be ready to go on Wednesday."