Meadows turns Wheeling inside out

Rolling Meadows eased into the season with a 3 straight victories, but got away from its inside game and lost 3 of its last 4 games.

But Meadows was back in synch Friday, using a powerful inside game to soften visiting Wheeling, and then turning loose its 3-point shooters to run away with a 64-45 victory.

"We have good 3-point shooters," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich whose team connected on 10-of-15 behind he arc. "But I was more impressed when they weren't falling we went inside to our post players."

"When we have been playing well we've been going inside and we have gotten away from that."

But not on Friday as senior Kyle Gaedele scored a game-high 21 points with four 3s and senior guard Kevin Serna added 18 points also with four 3s.

"The post players were able to give us good looks and were kicking it out for the 3s," said Serna. "We were finding each other all over the court."

Meadows (5-3, 2-1) was without second-leading scorer Ty Kirk, who was on a college football recruiting visit, but the Mustangs offense didn't miss a beat.

They shot 52 percent (23-for-44) and it all started inside.

Senior forward Ben Sabal scored 8 of his 9 points to power the Mustangs to 20-14 advantage after one quarter.

"We practiced all week on getting the ball inside," said Sabal of Meadows' early success. "We knew that would open up our outside game."

Then Gaedele took over in the second quarter, scoring 10 points, including a drive in the lane with a defender in his face, increasing the Mustangs' lead to 16 points.

"The difference in the game was their strength," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool whose team was out-rebounded 24-15. "They just overpowered us."

Wheeling (4-5, 0-3) responded as senior guard Chris McClellan (12 points) added a pair of weaving drives, and Al Chery (13 points, 2 blocks) added basket to narrow the deficit to 32-22 at halftime.

But Meadows used a 13-2 run midway through the third quarter to increase its advantage to 45-27.

"We came out big in the second half," said Serna, who hit three 3s during the run, and with the the inside power of Sabal, Gaedele, Pat Conlin, and Dan McCarthy continued to flex its muscle in the paint.

Meadows entered the final quarter with a 54-33 advantage, and the Wildcats would get no closer than 15 points.

"I think we turned the corner a little bit this week," said Katovich. "The guys are starting to buy into the fact we need to get the ball inside."