Metea clinches UEC Valley title
It took Metea Valley only two seasons to scale the mountain in the Valley.
Metea's 62-58 victory over visiting Waubonsie Valley in front of 1,910 fans Saturday in Aurora clinched the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division title in the Mustangs' second year as a varsity program. On senior night, no less.
"It feels great," coach Bob Vozza said, "the work that they put in from when we started three years ago, having us talk about situations like this and then to be able to succeed in a game like this where you have your ups and downs and things go wrong.
"They always make that run and they obviously did when their backs were against the wall today in the second half. But for this program it feels outstanding."
That run was a 12-2 spurt spanning the third and fourth quarters. Waubonsie Valley (16-8, 8-3) led 40-37 with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left in the third quarter when Metea's Ryan Sullivan turned a steal into a basket, then scored again in transition to take a 41-40 lead.
"In a game like this an easy basket means a lot more than it usually does," Solomon said. "We got a couple steals, that led to a few baskets and that really helped our momentum and it helped us push through the rest of the game."
Javares Stewart converted a Tyler Yanisch assist for a 42-41 Waubonsie lead entering the fourth quarter, but Metea kept coming.
Big man Shiv Desai got a steal and Kenny Obendorf rolled in one basket, drove for another hoop and Solomon scored again on the break. Metea (21-3, 10-2) capped the run with 2 Obendorf free throws for a 49-42 Mustangs lead while the visitors began the fourth quarter 0 of 6 from the floor with 2 turnovers.
Waubonsie, which beat the Mustangs 62-61 in overtime on Jan. 11 and tried to hand them a third straight defeat, came within a possession of tying five times. Be it a putback by the 6-foot-6 Desai or one of his 4 blocks, or Metea's 13-of-17 fourth-quarter foul shooting the Mustangs held off their closest Valley pursuit.
"We're not going to let this define the rest of our season. We're going to finish off the season and try our best to win a regional," said Waubonsie's Jared Brownridge, who scored 18 points. Bryan Jefferson led the Warriors with 20 points and 12 rebounds, 8 in the fourth quarter to maintain the threat.
Warriors coach Steve Weemer would have liked a different result but told his players to hold their heads high.
"I mean, this was a great high school basketball game," he said. "What else can you ask for, what a great script. You've got a rivalry game developed between us two. We beat them at our place in a close game and then it came down to a close game at the end."
Milan Bojanic led Metea with 15 points and Sean Davis added 11. Those two paced a 20-17 Mustangs lead after a quarter, though the scoring slowed and Metea led 31-26 at halftime.
"It's definitely a great accomplishment for us as a first year with juniors and seniors together as a varsity program," said Obendorf, who scored 10 points. "I think we have lot bigger goals, though, and hopefully this is good momentum to help propel us in the (state) tournament to a nice run."