Boys Basketball: Ellis Matthews helps Libertyville survive

Updated: December 27, 2011 9:52PM

Ellis Matthews helped Libertyville avoid a trap Tuesday in the opening round of the Hardwood Classic in Wheeling.

Matthews scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds as Libertyville held off Wheeling 64-57.

“We started off pretty well,” Matthews said. “We didn’t close out well. I tried to get the ball in the hole when I could.”

Libertyville (8-2) led since they broke a tie at 17 early in the second quarter. But Libertyville had trouble pulling away from a stout Wheeling team.

Wheeling (0-9) closed to 30-29 just before the end of the half and trailed 41-37 with 1:53 left in the third quarter.

“We just got away from what we were doing,” Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. “We started to play too fast and they made us pay for that.”

Libertyville then got some breathing room when they went on a 10-3 run to lead 51-40 with 6:18 to play. Wheeling never got closer than five after that.

“It was an ugly first-round game,” Bogumil said. “But we got the win and survived.”

Griffin Pils had 16 points and eight rebounds for Libertyville while Anthony Mack chipped in 13 points.

Wheeling, which attempted 26 three-pointers and converted eight of them, was led by Chris Pierro, who had 14 points and Jeremy Stephani and Charlie Kirk, who each had 12 points.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.