LIBERTYVILLE, IL. — The saying “It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish” is very common, and for good reason. It has held true recently to the Lake Forest Boys’ Basketball Team and acts as an important factor in who ultimately wins the game. During wins over Zion-Benton and Lakes, huge runs in the fourth quarter propelled the Scouts to victory. However on Saturday night at Libertyville High School, Coach Phil LaScala’s team played a much different ballgame as they lost by a 61-45 score.

Unlike the previous, highly-contested starts to Lake Forest’s games, Libertyville shot its way to a 21-10 lead through the initial quarter. The Scouts were trading two pointers for three’s which led to the early deficit in which they put themselves. Josh Steinhaus and Jackson Watson paced the Wildcats from behind the arc to build the early lead and LaScala’s defense couldn’t seem to contest shot after shot.

A much stingier defense gave way for points on the other end as the Scouts cut the lead to 29-24 entering the halftime break. In a classy gesture, Libertyville athletics’ “Superfan Gary” was honored with a $1,000 scholarship in his name during the intermission period.

The physicality and back-and-forth manner which is always present during the Route 176 Rivalry didn’t disappear quite yet through the third quarter. Crawford Bolton kept the Scouts in it down low as he seemingly scored at will against Travis Clark and Coach Brian Zyrkowski’s frontcourt.

However, that intensity seemed to vanish as the two teams came out for the final quarter of play. Lazy passes and possessions in which the ball didn’t make it down low became the norm as the Wildcats extended the lead from single to double digits. Brian Wilterdink had five steals for the home Cats, the majority coming in the fourth which ended up with easy baskets at the other end. That fourth quarter collapse led to the final score of 61-45 in favor of the Orange and Black.

Bolton led the Scouts with 20 points and added four rebounds. The senior forward was very effective inside as he finished shooting 9-10 from the field. The Wildcats had no answer and it was surprising that he was unable to get more shots up. Jake Fisher added 10 points with an effective field goal percentage of 57%. For the Scouts, 17 turnovers are unacceptable and was a huge reason for the loss. Josh Steinhaus led all scorers with 21 points and his three-point-shooting ultimately was the difference maker.

Lake Forest fell to 7-11;3-3 and Libertyville improved to 10-8; 3-3 with the win. The Scouts travel to Stevenson on Wednesday to take on the highly-touted Patriots in a rivalry matchup.