It's tiebreaker time again in MSL

What seems to have become an annual event in Mid-Suburban League boys basketball has arrived.

If it's February, then it must be tiebreaker time. Time to figure out how the division races will play out with the league's title game on Feb. 20.

Here's a look at what needs to happen for the remaining contenders starting with the MSL West.

It's simple for Conant (17-4, 7-1). It can win consecutive titles for the second time in its history (three straight from 1992-94) by beating visiting rival Hoffman Estates (13-10, 6-2) tonight.

Of course, it wasn't easy the first time when the Cougars, the league's stingiest team at 40.8 points allowed, gave up their season-high in a 63-53 loss at Hoffman on Dec. 20.

Hoffman needs to win tonight and next Friday against Palatine and hope Conant beats Schaumburg. Hoffman would get the tiebreaker with a season sweep of Conant.

Schaumburg (13-7, 5-3) needs to beat Fremd tonight and then avenge a 53-49 loss to Conant by at least 5 points next week. The Saxons also need Conant to lose tonight and Hoffman to lose next week.

If that scenario happened, Schaumburg would have tiebreaker because it won by 6 points and lost by 4 in its meetings with Hoffman.

The East could be headed toward its typical final Friday wackiness. Buffalo Grove (16-5, 6-2), Hersey (14-9, 6-2) and Prospect (13-9, 6-2) could all remain tied after tonight.

But if that happened, it would simply come down to the finale when BG tries to avenge a 53-44 loss in a visit to Hersey. BG and Hersey hold the point-differential tiebreaker edges in their splits with Prospect.

Prospect needs to win outright and finishes with Elk Grove and Rolling Meadows. To get to the title game the Knights would also need BG to lose to Meadows and beat Hersey or Hersey to lose to Wheeling and beat BG.

Confusing? Crazy? At least it leads to an MSL title game decided by who has the most points on the scoreboard.

Prowling above .500: On the fifth time at break-even, Wheeling finally broke above the .500 mark for the first time with Tuesday's 52-46 win over Schaumburg.

"Since the New Year we've played really well," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool of his team's 5-2 stretch. "It's almost been night and day. I'm amazed at how well the kids have responded and played well as a team."

For the first time all season, the Wildcats have allowed less than 50 points in consecutive games after a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Meadows 54-49 on Friday.

Chris McClellan continued to do his thing with 35 points in the 2 games. And the 93-percent free throw shooter is another streak at 23 in a row.

But a big key to the Wildcats pair of wins has been junior James Kurtz.

"The strides James has made (since Christmas) have been incredible," Wool said. "He's a completely different kid.

"We've put him on the better perimeter offensive players and his all-around play and attitude is so much better."

As it is across the board for the Wildcats, who snagged the No. 9 seed in the Evanston Class 4A sectional and host a regional and what figures to be an opener and fourth meeting with No. 8 Prospect.

"Our whole theme is it's not where we started but how we finish," Wool said. "It's been a steep hill, but it sure feels good when things get turned around a little bit."

Welcome back: Glenn Olson said it didn't seem strange returning to Rolling Meadows, where he was a Daily Herald All-Area guard in 1994, for the first time as a head coach with Maine East on Tuesday night.

"You get going into your team and your preparation," Olson said. "Besides some familiar faces in the stands it was a basketball game against a very good team."

And family and old friends such as Brian and Phil O'Grady and Scott Klipowicz saw Olson's team improve to a pretty good 15-7 with a 63-56 victory. The losses include two to 16-4 Highland Park, two to 14-5 Glenbrook North and 66-59 to 23-3 Zion-Benton.

"We actually think we should be better," said 6-foot-4 senior Avery Roche. "We lost a couple of tough ones. We've got to grind the rest of the season out.

"We had a pretty good summer and knew coach is a real good coach."

Hoping to turn the corner: Barrington hasn't found 2008 too enjoyable with 7 straight losses. But keeping MSL West contenders Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg to 47 and 49 points respectively kept coach Marty Dello optimistic.

"I'm proud of the kids," Dello said. "They're working hard and continue to work hard and play hard.

"This weekend was a good weekend for us other than the result."

Dello thinks there is a sure cure to help the Broncos get well again.

"We had a great defensive game against Hoffman and shot the ball poorly," Dello said. "If we put the ball in the hole all of a sudden things look a lot better."

Tip-ins: While Proviso East is trying to avoid its first losing season in 51 years, Schaumburg needs 1 more win to extend its MSL-best streak of consecutive winning seasons to 15. Hoffman had 11 (1994-2004) and Buffalo Grove had 10 (1976-85) … Two of the state's top juniors meet Saturday when Schaumburg and DePaul recruit Cully Payne visit Glenbrook South and 6-9 Jack Cooley, who committed to Notre Dame this week … Decatur High has a storied history with four state titles under Gay Kintner and John Schneiter at the now-shuttered school. But standout Lewis Jackson helped Eisenhower become the first team in Decatur history to start 20-0. Becoming the city's first public school to reach the state finals since 1986 won't be easy with a probable matchup with state-ranked Mt. Zion in a Springfield 3A regional final.