After suffering a heartbreaking overtime defeat on December 12 at the hands of the Libertyville Wildcats, the Scouts seek revenge tonight in the Competition Gym. The Route 176 Rivalry tips off tonight at Lake Forest High School at 7:00pm. In their previous match up, the Wildcats came out victorious 65-60 in an overtime thriller. Lake Forest had an opportunity to win it in regulation, but fell short at the buzzer.

The Cats now sit at 14-7 on the season and are tied for the lead in the conference with a 7-2 record. They’re led by one of the top seniors in the state, Drew Peterson, a 6’6” guard who dropped 17 points in the last meeting, including the 3-pointer at the end of regulation which ultimately sent the game into the extra period of play. He’s been the focal point of the offense for Libertyville all season long and Coach LaScala’s gameplan did a pretty good job of limiting Peterson in their last match-up. The key factor tonight, however, will be preventing Libertyville’s role players from impacting the game in serious ways. In December, Josh Steinhaus had a career-high 22 points with five 3-pointers that propelled them to the victory. If the Scouts can do that, and prohibit Peterson from taking over the game, Lake Forest has a serious chance to get this win.

In their last game, Ben Gibson led all scorers with 20 points against the Patriots, with Mead Payne chipping in another nine. The rest of the team combined for a mere five points, something that will certainly need to change if the Scouts want to get back on track. Libertyville possesses a strong zone defense which might make things difficult for the Lake Forest offense. Their 3-point shooting woes will need to come to a halt tonight as well in order to pull the upset.

Lake Forest will need the Competition Crazies to be in full effect tonight in order to secure the upset win in the Route 176 rivalry.