Meadows finishes 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 assistants idea," Katovich said of Kevin Carlson and Brett Olson. "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.

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.

Hersey 81, Elk Grove 67: In an up-and-down season for Hersey's boys basketball team, one thing is for certain.

Junior forward Justin Jobski shows up and brings the lunch bucket.

Jobski came up with another blue-collar workmanlike effort in helping the Huskies to an 81-67 win at Elk Grove in the Mid-Suburban East.

"When Justin is comfortable in a game," said Hersey coach Steve Messer, "he attacks with aggressiveness.

"Justin was a dominant force inside. Tonight he made baskets, rebounded and hit free throws. Our guards also did a nice job in distributing the ball."

Jobski finished with 13 points, hitting 5 of 7 shots, pulled down 9 rebounds and had two key assists of his four, in the fourth quarter when the Grens were still in the fight.

"I played a lot as a sophomore," said Jobski. "I know the competition and the speed of the game. When I come to practice I work on whatever coach tells me to do. To improve I still need to work on my defense."

After being tied at 13-13 with 2:30 left in the first quarter, Connor Miklasz' basket put the Huskies ahead for good 13 seconds later. Tom Sutrinaitis (18 points, 5 rebounds) hit a 3-point basket and Joe Mailloux finished the 7-0 run with a basket with 32 seconds left.

Leading 30-18 with 5:16 left for the first half, Elk Grove (5-21, 1-9) pulled to 30-25 with 2:54 left, but could get no closer. A 10-2 run by Hersey with Jobski scoring 4 points helped give the Huskies (14-11, 7-3) a 40-29 lead at the break.

The Grens stayed close with the outside shooting of Justin Flores who had 17 points and Anthony Jimenez with 14 points off the bench.

Hersey finally put away Elk Grove when Sutrinaitis keyed a 10-0 run with 6:10 left to open a 77-57 lead.

Hersey's Sean Reszotko scored 15 points and Stefan Vucicevic added 13 points.

Greg Swiderski

Highland Park 42, Maine W. 36: Odera Eneogwe poured in 26 points but the rest of his Maine West teammates were contained in a 42-36 Central Suburban North boys basketball loss Friday night at Highland Park.

Eneogwe was 9-for-17 from the field and 8-for-11 on free throws to match his career high point total. But the rest of the Warriors (15-10, 4-6) went just 4-for-21 from the floor.

Jonny Stempel and Jake Norcia scored 12 points apiece for Highland Park (12-13, 4-6).

Carmel 44, St. Viator 41: Host Carmel outscored St. Viator by 7 points in a pivotal third quarter, and that ultimately paved the way for a 44-41 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.

The Corsairs, who got a team-high 14 points from Mooney and double-figures from both Brandon Motzel (11 points) and Tim Hendricks (10 points), are still just 10-15 on the season, but they seem to be peaking. They've beaten quality teams such as Notre Dame, Libertyville and now St. Viator (12-11, 4-7) all within the last two weeks.

The Corsairs had to stick it out against St. Viator while Motzel was forced to spend long stints on the bench. Motzel, Carmel's leading scorer, got into foul trouble early. He sat for nearly the entire third quarter.

Interestingly, that's when Carmel made its big run.

"Motzel has been playing really well the second half of the season," St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski said. "When he's not on the floor, it could've really helped us. But we didn't take advantage of it."

St. Viator had 8 second-half turnovers and hit just 9-of-29 second half shots for a meager 31 percent success rate.

Chris Myjak and D.J. Morris got hot for St. Viator in the fourth quarter. Myjak scored 7 of his game-high 15 points and Morris scored 7 of his 9 points in the final period.