Mundelein’s heroes step up
On a night when Stevenson saluted its seniors and and the armed forces during its annual Hoops for Heroes night, visiting Mundelein found a fourth-quarter hero of its own.
Always in search of a third scoring option to complement junior Robert Knar and Sean O’Brien, the Mustangs may have found one in sophomore Nate Williams.
Williams scored 5 of his 7 points in the final five minutes of play and Knar finished with a game-high 25 to lift the visiting Mustangs to a 70-59 win over Stevenson. Mundelein (22-6, 9-3) finished North Suburban Conference Lake Division play in second place for the second straight year behind division winner Warren while Stevenson fell to 15-9, 6-6 in league play.
“We have been working every day on situational basketball — up 2, three minutes to go, that kind of thing,” said Mundelein coach Richard Knar. “(Nate) hit a couple big shots for us when the offense started to get stagnant and that was something we really needed.”
Stevenson caught Mundelein at 48-48 with 5:47 left on a high-arching jumper from Colby Cashaw (10 points) before Williams and the Mundelein offense finally started to find a rhythm.
With the offense starting to bog down again, one of O’Brien’s 8 assists found Williams for a long 3-pointer that broke the tie and gave Mundelein the lead for good at 51-48 with 4:53 left.
On the next possession, Williams took a pass in stride from Knar and laid it in for a 5-point cushion with just over four minutes left.
“We practice a lot in taking big shots in practice and I knew I had to focus on taking that shot and making it,” Williams said. “Coach (Knar) talks all the time about how big shots can be important so I just calmed down and concentrated on that shot.”
Playing without senior Michael Fleming, freshman Jalen Brunson stepped up and kept the Patriots close. Brunson scored 6 of his team-high 14 in the final quarter to keep the hosts within reach of the Mustangs.
“We played well in spurts but we can’t give up that many points and expect to beat a good team like (Mundelein),” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “We hit some shots and made plays, but in the end we have to be better defensively than we were tonight.”
The run for Mundelein continued thanks to Williams and Knar. Knar scored the final 11 points of the game for Mundelein as the Mustangs used a 22-7 run in the final quarter to close out the Patriots.
“We played with a lot of energy with guys looking for other guys and guys moving without the ball there at the end,” Knar said. “We have been trying to find that third scorer and tonight Nate was that guy in the fourth quarter.”
Chino Ebube added to the Mundelein scoring with 12 points. Connor Cashaw produced 12 for Stevenson off the bench.