Meadows putting it all together

The pieces of Rolling Meadows boys basketball are now fitting together. Roles have been defined and the results for the most part have been positive.

The Mustangs put together a one-for-all, all-for-one effort in tripping Wheeling 61-45 at Rolling Meadows on Saturday night.

Junior guard Brian Nelms was the glue that helped the Mustangs improve to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in the Mid-Suburban East.

Nelms, while scoring 6 points, played his point guard position to perfection. Nelms dished out 7 assists mostly to 6-foot-6 Paul Volkman, who scored 21 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

"Brian is understanding what a point guard needs to do," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "He's been stepping up his game. All the players worked hard in practice this week and it showed. We're playing well winning three of our last four games."

"Tonight Volkman was getting away from his defender," said Nelms. "I was able to pentrate and hit him with some good passes.

"We started getting some good stops in the second half and built the lead. There are times when I need to score but tonight the big guys were getting open."

Wheeling (4-12, 0-5) played the Mustangs tight trailing just 26-25 at the break.

Leading 30-29 with 5:22 left in the third quarter, Volkman hit for a free throw and a basket for a 33-29 lead. Mike Crigler came off the bench and scored all 7 of his points in a row to swell the lead to 40-29.

The Mustangs went on a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter and led 52-33 with 4:35 left in the game. Mike Olson (9 points) hit two 3-point baskets to start the quarter.

"We hang tough for a half," said Wildcat coach John Clancy. "The third quarter has been our nemesis. We just need to win one of these games to get us over the hump. We just seem to get some mental lapses."

Ricky Schwind scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half. Charlie Kirk added 11.

Scott Shewmon added 9 points for the Mustangs and Tyler Gaedele scored 8.

"With Scott getting healthy and playing well," said Volkman of the 6-7 senior, "we know have two threats under the basket. We've worked hard in practice this week. We weren't going to let that effort go to waste."