Wheaton North comes back to beat Rolling Meadows
In Day 2 of the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Palatine, the matchup between Rolling Meadows and Wheaton North was a tale of two halves.
The Falcons (1-0) saved their best for last, defeating the Mustangs in clutch fashion 66-60.
The Falcons inched to a 14-11 lead over the Mustangs (0-1) by the end of the first quarter before the Mustangs initiated a full-court press the Falcons couldn't handle. Rolling Meadows had an 8-point lead going into halftime.
"(Falcons coach Jim Nazos) told us not to force anything," said Falcons senior guard Mike Fitzpatrick. "We struggled in the first, but (Nazos) said to do what we do in practice."
Following halftime, the Mustangs continued their first-half form. They began the second half with a 7-0 spurt and moved out to a 44-28 lead.
The Mustangs' second-half charge was led by senior center Paul Volkman (18 points) and junior guard Brian Nelms (13 points).
After Nazos called a timeout midway through the third quarter, the Falcons got a spark from junior guard Ed Norris, who hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut into the lead.
The Falcons continued to gain ground, cutting the deficit to 5 by the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick and the Falcons picked up where they left off. Fitzpatrick had 11 second-half points, including a personal 5-0 run after sinking a 3-pointer and forcing a turnover for an uncontested layup which put the game out of reach.
"We were down 16 at one point," Fitzpatrick said. "I didn't force anything in the game and I let the game come to me. I was playing really relaxed. This is a team-builder."
The Mustangs trailed 64-60 with less than a minute remaining and still had a chance to pull even with the Falcons thanks to the Falcons' 2-for-6 free throw shooting at the end of the game.
But Rolling Meadows couldn't capitalize on open shots.
"Our rebounding killed us," said Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich. "We played good team basketball for two-and-a-half quarters, but it got away from us. There was too much one-on one play.
"We didn't box out and the (offensive) rotation was poor. We need to work on that. We need to have the willingness to play a full game."
Wheaton North plays Deerfield, while Rolling Meadows takes on Chicago Wells in today's continuation of the Classic.
"I'd like to say we're a very deep team," Nazos said. "Nikko (Araujo) and Ryan (Jordan) did a good job on the defensive end. We got a very good game out of Mike (Fitzpatrick) staying with it.
"I think Rolling Meadows will be winning a lot of games this year. They did a good job taking us out of it in the beginning. This was a good character game for us with a win like this."