Libertore Sets Career Scoring Record as Louisville Hammers Hoover
Louisville 60, North Canton Hoover 45
The Louisville Leopards Boys Varsity Basketball Team earned a convincing 60-45 victory over the visiting North Canton Hoover Vikings Tuesday Night at Louisville High School. With the victory, Louisville improves to 13-7 on the season.
Chris Libertore and Jared Mathie each scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Leopards. Brandon Wahl also hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with 12.
Near the end of the third quarter, Libertore broke free wide open down court on an in-bound pass. Alone across the timeline, he gained control of the ball, dribbled once, and then scored on a left-handed layup. It was too easy, it was perfect. The journey to this point required endless hours of practice and most of the 1,078 previous points scored by Libertore were not as easy as a wide open layup. But with that bucket, Libertore surpassed Drew Noble to become the All-Time Leading Scorer in Louisville Leopards Boys Basketball History!
Career Points Record-Breaking Score By Chris Libertore
Appropriately, it was fellow Senior Brody Hahn who heaved the two-handed jump pass cross court to Libertore. The two upperclassmen have fed off each other throughout the entire run and have a chance to cut down the nets Friday in their final home game against Carrollton. After the record-breaking make, it was Hahn who led the mobbing of Libertore. The mass of players turned to the bench where Libertore received a huge hug from Head Coach Tom Siegfried.
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Then the Leopards returned to the court. Libertore huddled his teammates together and it was back to business. There was a 90+ year old rival to finish off and they did finish them. Louisville built a 51-31 heading into the fourth quarter and played smart basketball the rest of the way to earn the double digit win.
The Leopards trailed just once in the game at 2-0 less than a minute into the contest. Mathie would drop in the next 7 points and Wahl scored on a lay-in to put Louisville up 9-2 out of the gate. They never looked back in shooting 61% (23 of 38) from the field for the game. The Leopards also out-rebounded the Vikings 22-14 for the game with Hahn and Libertore leading the team with 7 a piece.
The Leopards pulled ahead to a 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Vikings changed the tune in the second quarter. North Canton used a 20-4 run to cut the deficit to 26-25 with less than a minute left before halftime. Matt Chufar and Cam Telesz each hit a pair of triples and Nathan Fox also scored 6 points for Hoover during the second period. Chufar and Fox would finish with a team-high 14 for the Vikings and Telesz finished with 9.
Libertore stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer from the left corner and Louisville went into the break up 29-25. The Leopards kept the momentum going out of the locker room and strung together another 22-point period. They held the Vikings to only a single field goal and 6 total points during the frame. North Canton never recovered from the double digit deficit and Louisville ran out the clock to seal the win.
This is the second straight year that the Leopards have defeated the Vikings and they have now won the last two games in the series played at Louisville. The Leopards won their last matchup at LHS in the old gym 69-60 on February 15, 2011. North Canton still holds the edge in the all-time series 66-57.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the Carrollton Warriors on Friday, February 17 for Senior Night. JV will begin at 6:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 7:30 PM. Louisville can clinch the NBC with a victory Friday!
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Cover Photo By Jim & Laura Photography
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