Mundelein hits 15 3s against CL South
Mundelein’s boys basketball team got inspiration from old teammate Ben Brust early — and by new one Austin Krummick late — as it began defense of its tournament championship at Jacobs on Saturday.
The Mustangs had not played since a loss to Warren eight days ago.
“We didn’t have a consistently good week of practice,” coach Dick Knar said. “I was a little disappointed.”
After Saturday’s tournament opener, Knar had no complaints. Mundelein set a tourney record with 15 3-pointers and cruised to an 80-40 win over Crystal Lake South.
Robert Knar sank six 3s en route to a game-high 22 points, while Nate Brune buried four, accounting for all of his 12 points. Sean O’Brien had 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Mundelein (8-1) solved Crystal Lake South (1-7) early, bolting to a 15-4 lead after one quarter against a zone defense and extending the advantage to 38-14 by halftime.
Krummick, a varsity rookie who was a B player as a freshman and sophomore the last two years, came off the bench late in the game and hit the Mustangs’ 14th and 15th 3-pointers.
“I just work hard and try to push the team,” Krummick said.
Thomas Gandolfi also knocked down a 3 for Mundelein.
“We made extra passes, which was good,” Dick Knar said. “When teams play a zone like that, we have so many kids that can shoot the ball.”
Watching it all in the bleachers, while wearing his red University of Wisconsin coat, was Brust. The UW sophomore guard tied a Big Ten record by going 7 of 7 from beyond the arc against UNLV last Saturday.
The 2010 Mundelein graduate spoke to his former team at the morning shootaround.
“He gave us a nice team speech,” Robert Knar said. “He said, ‘Savor it while we can.’ I don’t think we realized how good of a season we were having. We were 7-0 and then we lost to a good team in Warren. We came here and we had a week off, so we were itching to play. We’re definitely savoring it. We want that trophy back.”
“It was pretty cool,” Krummick said of Brust’s visit, “because we all play with him in open gym and stuff. To see him go to the next level gives confidence to the program.”
Jacobs’ old tournament record for 3-pointers in a game was 14, which Mundelein set in 1996 (against Jacobs) and St. Edward equaled in 2007 (against Bartlett).
Krummick’s 3s were his first ones on the varsity.
“That was fantastic, and he shot them with confidence,” Dick Knar said. “He’s really worked hard. To get him out there and have him hit a couple of 3s was great for him. I’m happy for him.”
“This guy put us over the top,” Robert Knar said, looking at Krummick. “I knew (the team record) was coming. It had to come sometime.”
Crystal Lake South was led in scoring by Nick Geske with 7 points. Mac Meitzler, Alex Bartusch and Steve Jarva each had 6.