Hoffman responds to Mustangs' rally

Hoffman Estates got so comfortably ahead of Rolling Meadows on Tuesday night that you would've thought the game was over at halftime.

And, unfortunately for the host Hawks they started playing like it. Before you knew it, their 33-15 halftime lead had been reduced to 34-32 midway through the third quarter.

Fortunately for the Hawks, poised and patient senior point guard Luke Mead recognized the situation, settled the team, set up his teammates for points and scored 7 straight himself to close the third quarter and boost the Hawks to a 54-42 Mid-Suburban League crossover victory.

"We didn't come out (in the second half) with as much intensity as we did to start the game," said Mead, who had a game-high 23 points and spent most of the fourth hitting "ice" free throws and setting up teammates like Chris Hall and Kevin Tiongson for scoring opportunities. He relishes the role for the 12-1 Hawks. "I had the feeling I had to create for the other guys."

Of more importance, perhaps, was the defensive job he took turns doing with Hall on Meadows' sharpshooter Richie Kemph. To say the least, the Hawks were very aware of the Mustangs (6-7) top gun.

"When you see his name in the paper when he scores 41 points, you're going to pay attention to him," Mead said of Kemph. It was a matter of "sticking to fundamentals," he said and getting help to control Kemph and limit him to 4 points.

But Will Trunk went off for 18, including 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, to bring Meadows back. His shooting and tough defense from Jimmy Garoppolo, Dan Wenzel, Ted Metzger and Brian Nelms helped the Mustangs get close before Mead took charge.

"We were a little upset at halftime that we had 9 turnovers. We came out in the second half second-guessing ourselves over the things we did wrong," and started doing more things wrong, said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro.

"Luke stepped up. Chris (Hall) and Luke did a really nice job on (Kemph). But you saw that last (3-pointer) that (Trunk) put up. They're capable of doing that if you give them the shots."

"He (Trunk) has that capability," Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich said. Now, he'd like "-to build on that third quarter going into BG (Friday night) and we'll be in good shape."

Hoffman too, gets its chance to sustain the momentum Friday night against arch-rival Conant.

"We'll get our test Friday night," said Mead.

Wheeling 62, Barrington 55: Wheeling senior Michael Barton was having a nice night with 14 points through three quarters in the MSL crossover at Barrington.

Then Barton turned it into a career night with 17 points in the final eight minutes to finish with 31 and rally Wheeling (4-8) from an 11-point third-quarter deficit.

"He had good shots and was scoring inside and out," Wheeling coach Lou Wool said after Barton hit four 3s. "More than any other game this year the kids played together. They pulled together and were high-fiving each other when somebody made a good play."

Barton also had 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Robert Carter (11 points), James Kurtz and Mike Zimmer had 5 rebounds each for Wheeling.

Mack Darrow (19 points) and Chris Howard (10 points) led Barrington (2-14), which was missing injured Kyle O'Keeffe (torn thumb ligament), Bryan Wegner (concussion) and Ben Bartz.

Elk Grove 56, Palatine 39: Matt Martinski (17 points), Donny Duschinsky (14 points) and Tim Furlong (12 points) led Elk Grove (5-9) to its third straight victory as it surpassed its win total of last year in the MSL crossover.

"We're finding out the better we play defensively in the half-court the better we are moving into our offense," said Grens coach Anthony Furman. "(Point guard) J.J. Lastovich really handled their pressure and found some guys open in the second half."

Nat Pearson led Palatine (2-12) with 11 points and three 3s.

Fremd 59, Hersey 48: Chris Klimek scored a game-high 20 points and Fremd (4-9) outscored Hersey 22-8 in the fourth quarter of the MSL crossover.

"I thought the big difference was we got three or four stops in a row that allowed us to get the lead back," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "I thought we played much better team defense in the fourth quarter."

Zach Monaghan and Will Reising added 10 points apiece for Fremd. Jordan Mertes scored 13 and Demitriy Velikov added 10 for Hersey (5-9).

Maine West 58, Fenton 39: Nate Andersen hit three 3s to lead a balanced attack with 11 points and Alex Seiler added 9 points as Maine West (2-13) broke a 7-game losing streak in the nonconference game.