Rolling Meadows hopes MSL experience valuable

Big games have been in short supply the last 11 years for the Rolling Meadows boys basketball program.

So the Mustangs hope their 69-51 loss at Schaumburg in Wednesday’s 42nd annual Mid-Suburban League title game provided some valuable experience for the Class 4A regional it hosts next week.

Meadows has not played in a regional title game since the 2000-01 team lost a sectional final to eventual AA state champion Schaumburg.

“It can’t hurt,” senior point guard Brian Nelms said of Meadows playing in an MSL title game for the first time since 1998. “You could tell there were some jitters out there. It was a great atmosphere.

“Toward the end we started playing better and got back to what we normally do. Hopefully there will be bigger games this year.”

Meadows, the 10th seed in the Barrington sectional, hosts No. 7 Libertyville at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“Hopefully we learned from what we didn’t do (Wednesday),” said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich, “and we can carry it over to the state playoffs.”

Saxons share success: Schaumburg proved it wasn’t lost in its two games without junior point guard Kyle Bolger, who hopes to return from his shoulder injury at next week’s Glenbard West regional.

Part of that was the Saxons found long ago the formula for success in a sixth MSL title and 21-5 record.

“It’s all a team effort,” said senior guard Joey Faleni. “It feels good to celebrate as a team.”

Playing up the team aspect is not just something that sounds good. It looked really good in the fourth quarter of the MSL championship as six of the Saxons’ nine field goals were assisted and two others were on offensive rebounds.

“They’re smart … and they picked us apart at the end,” said Meadows’ Brian Nelms.

“You talk about functioning as a unit,” said Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh. “We are just a really unselfish team that cares about one another and plays for each other.

“We’ve continued to get better as the season has gone on because they care for each other.”

Schaumburg has won 12 of 13 games going into its Tuesday regional opener at Glenbard West.

Myjak’s big finish: One player familiar with celebrations for East Suburban Catholic Conference champion St. Viator is 6-foot-5 senior Chris Myjak. He started as a sophomore on the Class 3A supersectional team which won a school-record 24 games.

Myjak would like to enjoy a few more celebrations for the 23-3 Lions, who are seeded second in the Barrington 4A sectional. He’s turned it on the 12 games by averaging 11.8 points to increase his season output from 7.6 to 9.2.

“I’m trying to make a statement my senior year,” Myjak said after the ESCC title-clinching win over Joliet Catholic.

“Chris has gotten so much better and the cause of that is Hugh (Masterson) and (Mike)McNamara battle him in practice,” said Viator point guard D.J. Morris. “He has someone to push him and really beat him up.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re doing so well. The practices are harder than the games.”

And the Lions practiced what they preached by not slipping up once in the ESCC in a year where the league cut back to an eight-game schedule.

“We’ve talked about this since May,” said first-year Viator coach Mike Howland. “We knew it a (St.) Pat’s in Game 1 and we talked this might be for the conference championship.”

Leyden’s driving force: The biggest reason Leyden (16-10) assured itself of its best season since it won 18 games 13 years ago has been senior guard Alex Herrera.

Herrera, who averages 17 points and 4 assists, had only 3 points at halftime of last Saturday’s 62-56 overtime loss to Rolling Meadows. But Herrera scored half of his 20 points in the final 7:05 with some tough, fearless drives through traffic.

“He’s a really good player,” said Leyden coach Bill Heisler. “He plays through all of that and doesn’t get too high and doesn’t get too low.”

Ties to IC history: Immaculate Conception saw its best season in 45 years end with Friday’s 54-52 loss to Walther Lutheran in the Westmont 2A regional final.

The Knights finished 24-4 for their most wins in a season since they were 23-7 in 1984-85 under current Conant coach Tom McCormack.

That was McCormack’s only season at the Elmhurst school before he took over at Conant.