Rolling Meadows takes Buffalo Grove down a notch

Things became less congested at the top of the Mid-Suburban East boys basketball race on Friday night.

Buffalo Grove, which had been on a four-game winning streak and had earned a share of the division lead, and Rolling Meadows, which had won five of its last six, met in Rolling Meadows.

The Mustangs started with a hot hand and maintained it throughout with a 56-44 win over the Bison.

Senior guard Marco Taibi put the Mustangs (8-8, 2-3) in high gear by scoring 11 of his 14 points in the first quarter. The Mustangs led 14-6 after the first quarter and made the Bison chase them the rest of the game.

"I took what the defense was giving me," said Taibi. "It was the best hot streak of my high school career. My teammates found me open. The shots just came to me. When I shot I just let it fly and didn't think about it. After our loss to Hersey we talked it about it, and we didn't want it to happen again. Tonight we had to play good defense."

Senior Jared Murphy also had a hot hand. He scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half to keep the Bison (11-7, 3-2) at bay.

Murphy's 3 in the first quarter gave the Mustangs a 5-2 lead with 4:10 remaining, and they held a lead the whole way.

"I've been feeling better as the season has gone on," said Murphy. "I had some sickness early in the season then I hurt my knee in the Wheeling (loss) game. Right now I am playing as well as I can."

Taibi's 3 with 3:54 left in the first half game the Mustangs a 23-9 lead.

Buffalo Grove rallied to close the gap to 26-18 at the break.

Jack Vaselaney's 3 cut the lead to 5 points at 26-21 to start the second half, but the Bison could come no closer.

Murpy's 3 ignited a 12-2 run that extended the lead to 38-23 with 1:47 left in the third before Meadows finished the quarter ahead 40-26.

Caleb Mayhorn's 3 cut it to 48-39 with 2:20 left, but the Mustangs hit 10 of 12 free throws to close out the game.

"We did not have very good practices the last two days, and it showed," said Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson. "Rolling Meadows did a lot of things well. They did a good job with their zone and we weren't active on offense. Murphy was tough in the middle of their offense and it was a tough match-up."

After last week's loss to Hersey, Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich thought the team would bounce back.

"The players were disappointed with themselves after that loss," said Katovich. "I give our scout team plenty of credit of getting us ready for this game. As long as we practice hard and execute our game plan, we're going to go in the right direction."

Murphy also had 9 rebounds and was 5 of 5 from the free throw line.

"We have to keep up our good habits and just play our game," said Murphy. "We knew Buffalo Grove would have some runs. We just had to keep our composure and battle back when they did."

Vaselaney led the Bison with 11 points and Mac Camardo scored 10 points to go with 6 rebounds.

Rolling Meadows out-rebounded Buffalo Grove 28-20.