Schools
Team of the Week: Libertyville Boys Basketball
Libertyville High School's Griffin Pils leads a veteran crew of players into the new season.
‘s boys basketball team won 12 games last year. Of course, the big news was the injury to leading scorer Ryan Barth that slowed the team’s progress.
“He went down early in his senior year,” said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. “And we lost him for two months.”
Someone had to take up the slack when the leading scorer went down and those players included the likes of Griffin Pils, Anthony Mack, Ellis Matthews and Luke Mathewson.
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All four of those players are back for the 2011-12 campaign. Pils is a player to watch on this team.
“Griffin had a nice summer,” Bogumil said. “And a nice fall league. He’s getting a lot of interest from Division III schools.”
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Bogumil, now in his eighth season at the helm of the Wildcats, is well aware the state runner-up from a year ago, Warren, still plays in the NSC Lake Division.
“Warren is still head and shoulders ahead of everyone,” Bogumil said. “And we face them a couple of times.”
Bogumil also is wary of Mundelein and its sharpshooter Richard Knar.
“It’s hard to get on a roll in the conference,” he said, “especially when you are facing these teams on a nightly basis.”
Still, bringing back four players who saw regular playing time should help the Cats in the new season.
“It’s a solid class,” he said. “It’s a pretty senior-dominated team.”
New faces: The Wildcats may get a boost from the football team. The Libertyville quarterback, Jack Deichl, also can play this indoor sport. This junior stands 6-foot-5.
“He is a nice player,” Bogumil said. “He’s got a big body and can shoot the ball.”
The sophomore team from last year also may contribute Scott Johns, Matt Varner and Connor Clark to the Libertyville varsity.
“A lot of the juniors are similar,” Bogumil said. “They are good, solid guys. That sophomore team was around .500 last year and competed in every game. We need a couple of those guys.”
Last year’s freshman team won 18 games and should make an impression on the sophomore team.
This season’s schedule opens at home. That is briefly, as the Wildcats open play in the Maine West Tournament. On Nov. 21, Libertyville hosts Maine South at 6 p.m.
Then it’s on the road for the rest of the tourney.
