Rolling Meadows gets hot, shoots past Glenbard West
Ian Miletic and Rolling Meadows zoned out Glenbard West in the opening round of the Jack Tosh tournament at York in Elmhurst.
Miletic along with Jack Duffer, Lazar Lazarevic and Jaeden Warrener knocked down 9-of-15 shots in the first half from outside the arc as the Mustangs rolled to a 57-35 win over Glenbard West.
Rolling Meadows (10-1) will meet St. Laurence in the second round of the tournament at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the South gym at York.
In Tuesday's battle between the tournament’s past two champions, Rolling Meadows, which won the tournament last year, had little issues with Glenbard West’s 1-3-1 zone.
“Actually, its funny, but that is the fifth time that we have seen 1-3-1 this year,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “We were taking and saying how we have seen this and let's execute like we have been executing.”
It was almost to perfection.
Meadows led 8-6 midway through the first quarter when the Mustangs began to sprint.
A basket inside by Duffer ignited a 23-9 run that included that seven consecutive three-point baskets as Meadows opened up 31-15 advantage late in the first half. Miletic had a trio of those three-pointers while Duffer had a pair while Lazarevic (13 points, four assists) and Warrener each had one.
“The whole first tournament (Thanksgiving at Fenton) was against 1-3-1 teams,” said Duffer, who would finish with 12 points and four assists.
“We practice against it a lot. It is fun to play against a team that runs it. We know in practice that if we can get it to corners everything opens up. Threes or dives, that's how we can score.”
Miletic scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. He knocked down 4-of-6 from outside the arc in the first half and 6-of-11 for the game.
“We knew what we were doing leading up to today “ Miletic said. “We just executed what we did at practice. We share the ball well and shot the rock well too. Guys were looking to be aggressive and guys were confident.”
Miletic, who is a junior and started two years ago as a freshman in the Mustangs’ loss to Glenbard West, said that he learned from his game against the Hilltoppers two years ago.
“I am really taking a step up and enjoying the game,” said Miletic, who also had 12 rebounds, 9 of which came in the second half.
“In those first couple years I was in a role. This year, I have to be that dominant scorer. I knew my time was coming.
Meadows threaten to make it a running clock midway through the third quarter when Warrener (six points, four assists) hit a three to make it 45-21. The Mustangs finished 13-of-26 from the arc.
“We shot the ball real well today,” Katovich said. “That's because we shared the ball real well. This team is really good with being unselfish. They are always looking for a good shot or a better shot. They don't care who gets the credit, they just want to win. That's why it is a nice group to coach.”
Glenbard West (5-6) then had their best offensive spurt of the morning, scoring eight consecutive points behind Bennet Schwanke, Danny Monahan, Dominic Seaney and Julian Yeh. But it wasn't enough.
“We knew they are a great team,” Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka said. “We knew that they would have to shoot it poorly and they did not do that. They got a lead and that totally disrupted our game plan heading into the second half.”
Yeh led Glenbard West with 8 points, Schwake had seven points while Mike O’Connell had five points and 10 rebounds.