Rose blossoms for Rolling Meadows
Michael Rose has blossomed at the perfect time for Rolling Meadows.
The guard-heavy Mustangs needed some inside help with the graduation of 6-foot-6 all-area pick Paul Volkman and 6-7 Scott Shewmon. It was a perfect opportunity for the 6-3 Rose, who played on the “B” team as a freshman and saw occasional varsity minutes as a junior.
Rose has emerged as the leading rebounder at 10 a game, leading charge-taker and No. 3 scorer at 8.2 points a game for the Mid-Suburban East leading Mustangs (12-5, 6-0).
“Over the summer I gained a lot of confidence and worked hard,” said Rose, who has scored a career-high 18 points twice in the last three games.
“He dedicated himself in the offseason and he keeps getting better and better and more confident,” said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. “He’s been absolutely unbelievable. He’s given us everything we hoped for and more.”
Rose averaged 2.2 points last year as the Mustangs finished a game behind Prospect and in a tie for second in the East. The chance to work on a regular basis against Volkman and Shewmon was a good primer for a bigger role.
“They were trying to get me ready for next year and I really benefitted,” Rose said. “I appreciate it.
“I’m the tallest kid on the team and I took it upon myself to lead the team in rebounding.”
Rose was also helped by playing on the same AAU team with fourth-year varsity point guard Brian Nelms last summer. Rose and converted guard Mike Dolan have given the Mustangs what they need inside with Nelms and guard Tyler Gaedele leading the team in scoring.
“Between him and Dolan we haven’t missed a beat,” Katovich said. “Michael has that Dennis Rodman intensity. He’ll tap it and tap it until he can get it.”
Road warriors finally home: After playing its first 16 games in other gyms, Rolling Meadows finally got to play in its gym and on its new home floor in a 63-53 win last Saturday over Elk Grove.
“It felt really good and we were all anxious to get out there,” said Meadows senior Michael Rose.
“We were waiting for a bus to show up and take us somewhere,” joked Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. “It was fun and it was nice to be home and know we’ll be home for the rest of the year.
“The court is nice and it turned out really well.”
The Mustangs will try to maintain their 2-game East lead when they hosts Hersey (7-11, 3-3) at 7:30 p.m. today.
They are in a stretch of eight straight games at home before they go to Leyden on Feb. 18 and they will also host a regional. One of those games with Grant has been moved from Saturday to Tuesday because of a schedule conflict.
Katovich said the makeup of this year’s team made dealing with all the road trips for games and practices while the new floor was being installed.
“This group rolls with the punches,” Katovich said of a team that has overcome an 0-3 start.
“At first we were kind of bummed out when it happened but we coped with it,” Rose said. “We came to practice every day and worked hard.”
Chasing history: Mike LaTulip is only 25 points away from breaking the Prospect career scoring record of 1,282 points set by Craig Anderson. He scored 38 in last Saturday’s win over Hersey and 28 in Tuesday’s win over Glenbrook North.
“He was frustrated coming off the Meadows game,” Prospect coach John Camardella said of LaTulip scoring 11 points in a 67-59 loss two weeks ago. “He was so overamped.
“He’s just responded, not just scoring, but in a lot of different ways. It’s so nice to see.”
It will also be a matchup of two guards who have produced the biggest scoring games of the season when Prospect (11-6, 4-2) visits Wheeling (1-17, 1-5) at 7:30 p.m. today. Wheeling sophomore Jeremy Stephani scored 36 in a win over Elk Grove two weeks ago.
Buffalo Grove (7-12, 2-4) has won two games in a row going into today’s 7:30 p.m. game at Elk Grove (7-12, 2-4).
“Even though we’ve lost four in a row I don’t think we’re playing that bad,” said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. “We have to shore up our rebounding and be more consistent. We have to get to the free-throw line more and try to establish more of an inside game.”
Furman also expanded the Grenadiers’ rotation to 11 in Tuesday’s loss to Maine South. That meant more time for 6-5 junior Jake Gatziolis.
“He did some good things in the post getting touches and making them defend him,” Furman said.
Good news for Saxons: Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh said senior scoring leader Christian Spandiary (15.3 ppg) is healthy and ready to go when the MSL West leaders (14-5, 5-1) host Hoffman Estates (5-11, 0-6) at 7:30 p.m. today.
Spandiary missed last Saturday’s loss to York with a shoulder injury. Spandiary scored 20 in a 57-40 win at Hoffman on Dec. 8.
Conant (9-9, 4-2) is at Barrington (12-7, 4-2) at 7:30 p.m. today in a key West matchup. Conant won the first meeting 53-44.
And Fremd (11-8, 4-2) will also try to stay in the race when it visits Palatine (2-17, 0-6) at 7:30 p.m. today.
Big trip for St. Viator: The crazy second-half schedule for St. Viator (15-3, 3-0) includes Saturday’s big trip to Chicago Heights for an East Suburban Catholic Conference game at Marian Catholic (11-6, 2-0) at 2:30 p.m.
It will also be a big change for the Lions after Tuesday’s 59-48 loss at Lake Forest. Marian is led by standout 5-6 sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis.
“Marian’s good and it will be a much different game,” said Viator coach Mike Howland. “They’re quick and Ulis is a handful.”
The good news for the Lions is Howland expects to have point guard D.J. Morris back after he didn’t play Tuesday because of illness. They shot just 13-for-38 inside the 3-point arc against Lake Forest.
“We’ll learn from this,” Howland said. “They’re real big and that bothered us. They affected everything around the hoop.”
Two-time defending ESCC champ Benet (13-4, 1-1) hosts Notre Dame (15-5, 2-1) at 7:30 p.m. today. Benet visits Viator next Thursday.
Herrera’s streak ends: Leyden senior Alex Herrera’s program-record streak of made free throws ended at 38 in a 70-49 loss to unbeaten Proviso East last Saturday.
Herrera finished 10-for-12 at the line as the Eagles trailed only 47-40 after three and 54-44 with 4:37 to play. They had the perfect response to end a three-game losing streak by outscoring Argo 17-0 in the first quarter of a 57-38 win Tuesday.
Two grand for Collinsville: Downstate Collinsville became only the third boys basketball program in the nation to reach 2,000 victories when it beat Oakville (Mo.) 56-53 in the Belleville East Winter Classic on Saturday.
Centralia, located approximately 60 miles southeast of Collinsville, came into the season with 2,108 wins. Dobyns-Bennett in Kingport, Tenn., entered the season at 2,106.
In attendance for the historic victory was Violet Fletcher, the widow of legendary Collinsville coach Vergil Fletcher. The Kahoks won two state titles (1961 and 1965) and 747 games with only two losing seasons in Fletcher’s 32-year tenure.
“That probably made me more nervous, having Mrs. Fletcher in the crowd,” third-year Collinsville coach Darin Lee told the Belleville News-Democrat. “When you think of Collinsville basketball, you think of coach Fletcher.”
Collinsville is currently 18-3 and ranked sixth in Class 4A by The Associated Press. The program has won 74 percent of its games (2,000-705).
Five losing seasons in a seven-year period (2002-09) — including twice setting a program record of 22 defeats — kept the Kahoks from reaching the milestone earlier. They had only five losing seasons from 1907-2002.