Defending Tosh champ Rolling Meadows falls short

It just wasn't to be Wednesday afternoon at York.

Defending champion Rolling Meadows, after being down 38-29 with 2:01 left in the third quarter, came back to take 39-38 and 45-42 leads in the fourth quarter, but could not hang on.

The 52-47 loss to St. Laurence in the second round of the 49th annual Jack Tosh tournament sent the 10-2 Mustangs into the winners consolation bracket.

Rolling Meadows will take on Stagg Thursday at 3 pm.

"I'm proud of the way our kids responded when we were down and came back twice to take the lead," said Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "We didn't get stops and rebounds when we needed to. We didn't shoot as well as we normally do but they did a good job pressuring us."

The Mustangs shot 48% from the field but were only 4 of 15 from three point range.

The Vikings (7-5) took the lead for good at 48-47 with 1:10 left in the game on a corner three-point shot from James Jones, his only basket.

Zerrick Johnson’s basket with :14 left on a second effort under the basket made the score 50-47.

Katovich called a timeout at mid-court but the inbound pass was stolen by Ryan Seddon. Jones was fouled with 1.3 left and made two free throws.

"We lost a chance to tie at the end on the turnover," said Meadows junior guard Jack Duffer. "It was just a missed communication error. They were very good athletes but we were a step behind on defense. Our defense has been good all year but today we collapsed a little bit. But, we still showed toughness."

Rolling Meadows always kept it close trailing 16-14 after the first quarter, 22-21 at the break and 38-33 going into the fourth quarter.

"We didn't execute very well," said Katovich. "But give St. Laurence credit. We haven't played a team with that much quickness this season."

Duffer led the team with 16 points, and Ian Miletic had 14 to go with 11 rebounds. Lazar Lazarevic had 10 points and six rebounds before fouling out with 2:09 left in the game.

"Holding down Miletic was the key," said St. Laurence coach Byron Burt. "We had to put pressure on him. He had 10 at halftime and we held him to four points in the second half. We had to get physical with him and limit his touches."

Joshua Pickett led the Vikings with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Khalil Jones, who scored 9 in the third quarter, finished with 11.