Boys Basketball: Maine South tops Libertyville in Milwaukee

Updated: February 4, 2012 11:18PM

For the second time in less than 24 hours, Libertyville found a way to rally from a first-half, double-digit deficit.

But this time, unlike the day before when they faced Stevenson, it failed to lead them to a victory.

Their opponent Saturday afternoon, Maine South, needed some late heroics at both ends of the floor — and got them — crushing the Wilcats’ comeback hopes with an important 50-47 non-conference win that could have postseason seeding implications for both clubs.

Due to special a scheduling arrangement, Saturday’s contest was held at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. But an NBA venue, which includes a longer court than high school players are used to, did little to stop the Hawks from producing a dramatic finish of their own.

Maine South (16-10 overall) led by as many as 15 in the first half, only to see that lead evaporate midway through the fourth quarter.

With just a minute-and-a-half left in regulation, Libertyville had the ball and was ahead by four, 47-43. Instead of attempting to run down the clock or draw a foul, the Wildcats took and missed a quick — and ill-advised — three-point shot, which gave Maine South the ball back.

“That wasn’t the best decision for us to take that shot in that situation,” Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. “It was poor clock management.”

That’s when Hawks guard Nick Calabrese (13 points) drilled a three at the other end of the floor, with 1:19 to go, making it a one-point game.

“All of our games have been dogfights,” Calabrese said. “This one was no different.”

When Libertyville (14-8) tried to run the clock down a second time, Hawks senior guard Matt Lahey somehow stole the ball near mid-court with 37.6 seconds left to play, which was followed by a timeout, and a bit of controversy.

On the ensuing in-bounds pass, the Hawks never made it past the half-court timeline, and called another timeout with 25.9 left. It prompted an angry reaction on the Libertyville bench from Bougmil, who felt a 10-second violation should have been whistled, as over 11 seconds had elapsed.

Instead, Lahey lobbed a back door pass to junior forward John Solari (17 points), who banked the game-winning layup in with 16 seconds remaining, giving his team a 48-47 lead. It was Maine South’s first advantage since early in the quarter.

“A lot of our games have been coming down to the last few possessions,” Solari said. “We’d been running that same play all game long, and it had been working, so we went to it again there. Matt (Lahey) made a perfect pass to me under the basket.”

Libertyville senior forward Griffin Pils (11 points) then fired a 15-foot potential go-ahead jumper that fell short, which allowed Calabrese to ice the game for the Hawks on a pair of free throws with 6.6 seconds to play.

After enduring a six-game losing streak midway through their schedule, the Hawks are red-hot, having won nine of their last 10.

“Early in the season, we weren’t taking care of business when we needed to when the game was on the line,” Maine South coach Tony Lavorato Jr. said. “This was a great example of the kind of intensity we need to finish games with.

“That’s going to be key for us, how we finish. We’ve got three games left, next against Waukegan, then New Trier. And while we don’t have the chance to win our (Central Suburban League South) division at 4-4, we do have the opportunity to affect who wins the conference, because those two teams are tied for first.”

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