Mustangs get rewarded for their effort

There was no big rivalry, big conference implications or big crowd driving Rolling Meadows' boys basketball team on a cold Tuesday night.

But the Mustangs were driven to play as if this was their biggest game of the season.

They were diving all over the floor for loose balls, making extra passes, getting after it defensively and emphatically ending a five-game losing streak with a 55-34 nonconference win over Maine West.

"We needed this win," said Meadows senior Teddy Metzger, who had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. "We've been playing well recently and it's not fun losing.

"To come out and beat Maine West is big for our confidence."

The Mustangs (7-9) lost their last two games at the Elgin tournament by a combined 5 points. They rallied from a 20-point deficit to within 2 points before falling by 12 to state-ranked Hoffman Estates, led Buffalo Grove almost the entire way before losing in the last 30 seconds and hung with Lake Zurich in a 52-45 loss Saturday.

"The second half against Hoffman was really a turning point for us," Metzger said. "Even though we ended up losing to BG and Lake Zurich, we felt we played really well against good competition."

The Mustangs, who had lost seven of their last eight, scored the first 8 points Tuesday and the first 6 points of the second half to take a 36-18 lead.

Richie Kemph scored a game-high 16 points and had 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Will Trunk had 9 points and Dan Wenzel and Jimmy Garoppolo split 12 points with solid outside and inside play respectively.

"I thought we played good 'D' and we've really been emphasizing better ball pressure," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich after his team scored 19 points off 18 turnovers. "Especially Will Trunk - I thought he really set the tone early for us defensively.

"Metzger does the little things that go so unsung, but he may be our most valuable player so far this year."

Maine West (3-14) was coming off consecutive wins but shot just 28.6 percent and got 12 points from its starters. Alex Samuelson, Alex Seiler and Nate Andersen scored 7 points apiece.

"We didn't have the focus and the effort wasn't there," said Maine West coach Erik McNeill. "It's really disappointing because we had a good opportunity coming off two wins.

"I don't know where this game plan came from as far as executing what I thought we needed to do to win tonight."

Maine West trailed 41-28 but Metzger's steal and layup started a clinching 12-0 run.

"We didn't want to have the lead slip away like we did at BG," Metzger said.