Rolling Meadows caps MSL East turnaround
Rolling Meadows made Wheeling play catch-up from the start in Friday night’s Mid-Suburban East boys basketball game.
The Mustangs jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead and were able to build a big enough cushion to sustain a frantic final comeback by the Wildcats and emerge with a 54-48 road victory.
Senior center Paul Volkman keyed Meadows’ early run by scoring 10 of his 20 points during the early burst.
“We knew they were going to switch the screens,” the 6-foot-6 Volkman said. “That is their defense, to switch every screen. We were trying to take advantage of the mismatches with me and (6-7 Scott) Shewmon down low.
“We were going to have guards on us, and we knew that coming in. We really looked down low and it worked out.”
Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said his team worked on getting the ball to the post players all week in practice.
“Our guards did a real nice job of finding him, and he did a nice job of finishing,” Katovich said.
Wheeling was able to chop the Mustangs’ early lead down to just 2 at halftime, and that is when Meadows made a change that was able to shape the second half of the game.
The Mustangs (14-10, 7-3) switched from man-to-man defense, which they had played the entire first half, to a 2-3 zone that Wheeling was unable to consistently make shots against.
“That was my assistant’s idea,” Katovich said. “That was a really good idea. We were in some foul trouble so we needed to change things up.”
Wheeling (7-18, 1-9) coach John Clancy said he thought his team played pretty well against Meadows’ zone, but just couldn’t hit open shots.
“We’ve really carved up teams that have played us zone,” Clancy said. “We just missed from all spots. We got some inside looks, and some outside looks. We just didn’t shoot well.”
Meadows lost its first three MSL East games of the year, but closed with seven consecutive conference wins. No team had been able to make a similar turnaround from an 0-3 start since 1991-92.
“Starting the season zero and three in the division, they could have quit, and they came back and won seven in a row,” Katovich said. “Without Brian (Nelms), with a lot of adversity, they hung in there and they finished out the season on a great note in the division.”
Ricky Schwind scored a game-high 21 points for Wheeling, including four 3-pointers. Riley Harvey had 11 points, while Billy Jamie scored 4 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Tyler Gaedele scored 14 points and hit four 3-pointers for Meadows and Shewmon chipped in 6 points and 12 rebounds.