Buffalo Grove speeds past Rolling Meadows

Buffalo Grove is thinking fast in almost every situation.

The Bison boys basketball team wants to get out and go whether it's a missed shot, made shot or turnover.

And they went out Friday night and extended their pregame layup drill into their Mid-Suburban East matchup with visiting Rolling Meadows.

BG (7-2, 2-1) got all but two of its baskets off layups, drives or rebounds as it ran away to a 64-49 victory.

"Tonight was the best team effort we've had all season," said BG senior guard Kevin Mulligan, who had 12 points and 6 assists and held Meadows' Richie Kemph to 3 of his 18 points after halftime. "Everyone played well."

Mike Cornely (17 points, 9 rebounds) and Dan Recht (16 points) were the big beneficiaries of BG's speed game. Nick Prus added 8 points and John Angotti helped set a defensive tone as it turned 26 turnovers into 25 points.

"We do a good job of running the floor and the guards do a good job of looking up," said Cornely, who was 8-for-9 from the field. "This was one of our better transition games."

And BG was pretty safe at the high speed as the regulars only committed 10 turnovers.

"We've tried to incorporate the transition game and it's really starting to pay off," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor of his team's average of 64.5 points a game. "There's no doubt it helps when you have guys who can run. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't have kids who could run."

BG raced to an 11-2 lead but Meadows (3-5, 1-2) got within 28-27 as Kemph, the MSL's leading scorer at 22.6 points a game, scored 15 on 6-for-10 shooting the first 13:11.

"This was the type of night he goes for 40 if you're not guarding him," O'Connor said.

Kemph went just 1-for-4 the rest of the way against Mulligan.

"I was a little upset but we buckled down in the second half," Mulligan said. "He's a good player and we didn't switch up too much. We tried to stay on him and he's a good player, so he's going to hit those shots."

BG kept hitting its point-blank shots and pulling away as Recht scored 11 third-quarter points. Brian Nelms added 11 points for Meadows.

"We stressed all week transition defense and handling the pressure of their defense," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "It was a complete breakdown of execution. We got completely outhustled and outworked."